


The Struggles We Face

by maridoll



Category: Magi - Fandom, Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Multi, Sinja, more pairings to come just havent thought of who yet
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-29
Updated: 2015-11-05
Packaged: 2018-04-11 23:26:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 32,631
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4456571
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/maridoll/pseuds/maridoll
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Post-university graduation, Ja'far's life is like that of any other student: a little under the middle class, but good. When he enters the medical world of his hometown metropolis, though, he finds the good area of his life is about to turn into something . . lesser. Meanwhile, Alibaba finds his past demons coming back to haunt him and is forced to put his trust into unlikely allies. Over all of this, Morgiana and Hakuryuu help each other through life's struggles, trying to stay afloat despite all of those pushing them down.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> first multi-chapter magi fic! as of this moment, the first chapter was written before the release of SNB chapter 70 and Magi chapter 276, so if anything does not comply to canon -besides the things that blatantly go against it- this is why.

Hakuei slid the key she had been given into the lock, opening the door quietly after. She took a few steps into the apartment, shut the door, and stopped. “Aladdin?” When there was no reply, she rose her voice some. “Aladdin?”

“Here”, a distant reply came. Soon after, Aladdin stumbled down the hall, rubbing his eyes. “Oh, it’s you, Hakuei!”

She laughed at his tone. “It’s good to see you as well.” One hand reached down to unzip her jacket. “Why don’t you go get ready for school? I’ll wait in here.”

Aladdin nodded, blue hair moving to and fro with the hasty movements. “Yeah, yeah that sounds good! I won’t be long!”

She settled into a chair after he was gone. Such a chipper kid. Seeing him always brightened Hakuei’s day threefold. Perhaps, that was why she had accepted to take him to school in Ja’far’s place.

She suddenly stood up, wandering over into the small kitchen and pouring herself the leftover coffee from the early-morning rush -at least, she suspected. It didn’t look like it had been there overnight.

When it was reheated, she realized with a sigh, it didn’t taste like it either. _Leave it up to those two to know how to make an energizer._ It only took a few sips for Hakuei to feel the blood rushing in her veins.

“Ready”, Aladdin’s voice called from another room. A door opening and closing followed. Hakuei grabbed a spare plastic lid and, after tightening it around her beveridge, set out after the kid.

-

“Okay?”

“Just leave me to die.”

Sinbad paused in his movements, thoughts churning. “Surely the final wasn’t that bad.”

“I certainly didn’t get an A. Or a B.”

“Don’t be so hard on yourself.”

Ja’far raised his head from his arms, grey eyes looking over at Sinbad lazily. “But shouldn’t I? After all, not knowing this stuff could potentially damage someone’s life-”

“Oh look it’s Hakuei.”

Sinbad didn’t want to hear it. He was being hard on himself. But, as planned, at his words Ja’far turned away, eyes wandering until they met the woman’s silhouette. He stood and called her over.

Much to Sinbad’s disappointment, she didn’t come alone.

He should have expected him to be around, though. They were still in the university’s main courtyard, another bout of classes having just let out. Really, though, in what world could Sinbad escape to to avoid the one walking by Hakuei?

“Did you-”

She held a hand up. “Aladdin is fine. Oh, let me give you that key.” She shrugged her backpack from her shoulders, digging a hand in to retrieve the item. Upon hearing this, Sinbad frowned.

“Looks like we’ll have to change the locks, then.”

“That costs money”, Ja’far swiftly quipped, shutting down any further discussion with the three words.

“It’s not like I had it copied”, Hakuei said with a grin, handing Ja’far the key.

“It’s not you I’m worried about”, Sin mumbled.

“Well it’s so nice to see you as well, Sinbad”, Kouen grumbled, turning his eyes onto the other man’s.

“I don’t think I engaged conversation.”

“I don’t think . .”

Ja’far tuned them out, turning towards Hakuei. “Thank you, again, so much. It was completely last-minute that I had to go in early, I swear it. It means a lot that you helped.”

Hakuei shook her head. “I really don’t mind. Besides, you still have to do it for, oh, another half-month? While I lay around all day doing nothing?”

Ja’far shook his head. “You have internships every summer.”

“I don’t have to wake up early for them.”

“That . . is true”, he admitted.

But there were only four more days left. Four more, and he would be free of taxing grad school. Another couple weeks after, and Aladdin would be off for the summer. Sin would be home, everything would be a bit calmer. Ja’far knew more than anyone how tiring it had been for Aladdin to have him and Sin up for hours on end on finals weeks, and this one was no exception. If anything, it was worse. This was, after all, the last push. Then he would be free from school.

“Who even majors in history anymore? What, you gonna go off and lecture people in the streets about the 1800s?”

“Stop it”, Ja’far told him. Beside him, Hakuei giggled.

“Come on, Kouen. Let’s be off.”

And she left, dragging her kin along with her.

“Ginger”, Sinbad called. Ja’far swatted him on the head for it. He caught the retreating hand with ease, throwing a grin over his shoulder.

“Let’s go have lunch.”

  
-  
  


She felt . . different. Older, wiser, _something_ , and all she had done was walk out of a classroom.

Kougyoku stepped through a door and was met with a light rush of air. Strange, it had been warmer this morning.

“Hey, Kougyoku!”

She turned towards the voice and was immediately slammed into a hug, her feet coming off the round. Looking down, she could make out blonde hair.

“Alibaba, let me down”, she screeched playfully. The boy obliged, a big smile on his face.

“Guess what?”

“What?”

His hands flew up into the air. “We did it! We have officially survived one year of college!”

His joy was contagious. Kougyoku felt a great big smile of her own forming, and she stepped forward, wrapping her arms around the boy. “I know, I know!”

“We should do something.”

She tipped her head. “Like what?”

“Well . .” Alibaba hesitated. He did have that thing that night. Maybe, he decided, it would be best to bring someone. “You are officially in on my plans.”

“For what?”

“A graduation party.”

“Ah, a friend of yours?”

Alibaba nodded. “We practically grew up together, see.”

Kougyoku clasped her hands together. “Well I would love to meet them.”

“Then it’s settled!”

 

-

“So how was school?”

“Good.”

“Good.”

Aladdin squirmed in his seat. Conversations between him and Sinbad always felt too short for his liking. “How was school . . for you?”

“Mm? Oh, good.”

The rest of the ride home was spent in silence. When they reached the complex, Aladdin heaved his backpack up on his shoulders, walking a few paces behind Sinbad.

Ja’far was on the couch, laptop open, when he heard keys in the lock. “Open”, he called, and the jangling stopped, replaced by the turning of the knob.

Sinbad poked his head through, smiling. “Expecting someone?”

“A cake person.” His gaze turned to the other occupant stepping into the room. “How was it, Aladdin?”

The boy nodded. “Good. I .  . I aced my math test.”

Ja’far’s eyes were shining. “That’s great!” His moved his laptop off of him, coming over to embrace the boy. “I’m so proud of you.”

Aladdin laughed. “It’s all thanks to you helping me that I was able to.”

“Nonsense. You’re a smart kid, with or without my help.”

“Maybe we’ll have to order two cakes”, Sinbad mused.

“That’s money”, both Aladdin and Ja’far said.

He shook his head. “Why did you order one, anyway?”

“You expect me to bake”, Ja’far asked.

“You don’t know how?”

“Isn’t that the type of thing you should know already”, Aladdin said, facing Sinbad who, in turn, looked over at Ja’far.

The white-haired man sighed. “It hasn’t ever come up.”

“No, Aladdin is right.” Sinbad plopped down, now the second person to be on the floor. “We should know these things. What else do I not know?”

Aladdin shrugged his backpack off him and onto the ground, standing on his knees to be the same height as the other two.

“I, uh . .” Damn, he wasn’t getting any help from Aladdin. Ja’far sighed, put a hand up to his head. “I don’t like open-toed shoes . . ?”

Sinbad shook his head wildly. “I love you more already. You too, kiddo”, he said to Aladdin. In response, the boy crawled over, wrapped his arms around Sinbad.

After a few moments, Aladdin snatched Sinbad’s hand, reaching it over to make it touch Ja’far’s, or, more so, to make the rings they wore touch.

“You need to hurry up and get married”, he mumbled.

Sinbad smiled, moved his hand to curl it around Ja’far’s. He was blushing, shown thoroughly on his pale skin.  

“Since when did you get so concerned about that”, he murmured.

“Since I became your son”, Aladdin quipped.

“Soon”, Sinbad said, snuggling more with Aladdin. He glared at Ja’far until he came closer, close enough for him to wrap his arms around the small shoulders, pulling them all three together.

Then the doorbell rang.

“Cake”, Ja’far mumbled, head pressed into Sin’s collarbone.

 

-

“This didn’t have to happen.”

“What- of course it did! There’s people that want to celebrate with you.”

Morgiana turned away, her head resting on her knees. “I guess.” A hand landed on her shoulder.

“You know I’m here for you”, Yamuraiha murmured, her gaze softening. All she got was a small nod.

“Morg!”

The red-haired girl looked up to see a bubbly Aladdin approaching. Behind him, Ja’far and Sinbad slipped through the gate and into the backyard.

She uncurled her legs, standing up slowly. “Aladdin. Hello.”

His arms flew into the air. “Morg, you’re graduating soon, y’know?”

“I know.”

“Hi there, Aladdin”, Yam said, peeking over Morgiana’s shoulder.

“Hi miss Yam!”

“Stop fidgeting”, Ja’far muttered to Sinbad, watching his hands shake around the box.

“But I can’t help it! Little Morgiana is all grown up.”

“Want me to take it”, Masrur asked, coming up to the two and gesturing towards the cake box. It came into his hands with ease.

“Is she excited?”

Masrur turned to look at Ja’far, giving him a small shrug. Truthfully, he hadn’t payed any attention. He supposed she was. “You can ask her yourself.”

Her phone buzzed, and Morg snatched it up, peering quickly at the message printed on it. “Hakuryuu’s here.” She looked over to Aladdin and Yam. “I’ll be back.”

 

 

-

“I’m sure he’ll understand.”

The comfort in his words didn’t make her feel any better, but Morgiana nodded nonetheless.

“Hey, if online schooling is what you want to do, who’s to stop you? Might be easier to pay for, too.”

She sighed. “You’re such a cheapskate Ja’far.”

“I hope you remember that a few years from now.”

“How very exciting you’re making college life sound.” Her voice dripped with sarcasm.

“Ja’far!”

They both turned to face the speaker that had wandered over to them, Sharrkan.

“So, when are we gonna have one of these things for you, hmm?” One of his arms came to sling over the pale man’s shoulder. “Oh my god. Yam, Yam get over here! Jaf is leaving soon!”

Morgiana perked up at this. Leaving?

Yamuraiha shook her head. “Our little Ja’far is all grown up.”

“I’m not leaving”, he muttered. And then, louder, “And I’m older than you, what’s with-”

“I said little, not young”, Yam replied. She hovered a hand over her head, swiping out across the air to demonstrate the difference in height between her and him.

“How many more weeks? Two?” Sharrkan.

“Two.”

“Thoughts?” Yam put her hands on her hips.

“One to attend and one to be a part of”, Ja’far shrugged.

“That’s right”, Morg butted in. Ja’far gave her a questioning look, but she only stared back, jabbing him with a finger. “There’s no way I’m missing your ceremony.”

“Ah, I-I guess.”

“Have you applied for the job anywhere”, Yam asked.

“I technically have the job”, he admitted. “I’m just not, you know, doing it, or getting paid for it, or anything . .”

“In name only, then”, Sharrkan quipped. Ja’far shook his head.

“No, not without degrees. It’s more like there’s an open spot that’s mine as soon as I can present diplomas.”

“How does Sinbad feel, about it”, Morgiana asked in a quiet voice.

“He’s . .” Ja’far hesitated. “Supportive. Thinks saving lives is great and all. It’s just a lot of hours, you know?”

“Day shift?”

He shook his head. “Night. And on-call. I get weekends off, though”, he quickly added.

Morg patted him on the back. “Enjoy the freedom while it’s there.”

“I could easily tell you the same. You might _think_ you’ve pulled all-nighters to study, but you have no idea.”

“Again, you are doing a good job at convincing me that college is fun and necessary.

“It is necessary.”

“Oh, that’s right!” Sharrkan snapped his fingers. “Alibaba is here”, he said to Morg.

A small smile nicely decorated her face. She nodded to him and hurried off.

 

-

“Who’s this for, again?”

Alibaba wetted his lip. “Ah, a friend. Friend’s friend’s sister, in the beginning. But just a friend now. Morgiana.”

Kougyoku tipped her head. “You’re nervous.”

“It might have been a couple months since I last saw some people here. That will be here. No, scratch that. We came pretty late.”

She shook her head. “You just need to rel-”

“Alibaba!”

The blonde beside her snapped his head up, eyes immediately finding the girl heading towards them. He stepped forward, wrapping her in a hug.

“Hey hey, there’s the little graduate. Oh.” He pulled back, one arm still around her. “This is Kougyoku Ren, a friend.”

“Hi”, Kougyoku said lightly. She guessed the girl was Morgiana.

Morg gave her a brief nod, expression dimming the slightest bit. At the call of her name, she stepped away from Alibaba. “Have to go.”

She hurried off after that, leaving the two alone once more.

“S-Sorry”, Alibaba huffed, scratching his head. “She’s really timid around new people. I shouldn’t have forced it onto her like that.”

Oh, so that had been it. Kougyoku laughed, making her receive a strange look from her friend. “I could have sworn my hair was messed up or _something_. It’s okay. I used to be like that too, you know.”

Alibaba nodded.

“Why don’t we go see one of those people you mentioned earlier?”

He bit his lip, but ultimately, gave her another nod.

  
-

“You didn’t tell me your cousin was so pretty.”

“Who, Kougyoku?” Hakuryuu moved his straw around in his cup. “Didn’t think it was worth mentioning.” His eyes narrowed. “Was she . . ?”

“She was nice”, Morg said, waving him off.

“Then don’t worry about her. Hey, did you tell your brother about . . the thing?”

“Not yet.” Her tone was dismissive, but she talked on. “I did talk to Ja’far, though. Umm . . “ She stood on her knees, turning around in her chair. “He’s . .” She found him and pointed. “The white-haired one. Over there.”

“Oh.” Truthfully, Hakuryuu felt like he knew him from somewhere. His mind wasn’t cooperating him in that exact moment, so he couldn’t say for sure, or from where . . But he did seem familiar.

“Geez Morg, you never told me you were into older guys!”

She sighed heavily at the voice, purely for theatrics, before facing the one who spoke. “Nice of you to show up, Sphintus. And Ja’far is _family_. Or, well, not exactly, but he’s been here my entire life.”

Sphintus shook his head, padding closer. “Whatever helps you sleep at night.”

Hakuryuu snapped his fingers, finally remembering. “He comes over sometimes, studies with Hakuei.”

“Haku-who?”

“Quiet, Sphintus”, Morgiana hushed her sophomore friend. To Hakuryuu, “Ja’far?”

He nodded to her. “Usually around one. As in, one in the morning. He’s the EMT, right?”

“Future.” Morg scrunched her brow, recalling an earlier conversation. “Two weeks, I think. And don’t start drooling, Sphintus. No one wants to hear about your medical career plans.  . . by the way, we had stupid cake.”

“And you saved me a stupid slice?”

Morg reached back, pulling a full plate off of the table, handing it to the dark-skinned boy. “Surprisingly, I did. Where were you, anyway?”

Sphintus shrugged, accepting the plate. “Titus wanted to meet up for Starbucks-”

Both future high school graduates groaned at the mention of the franchise.

“Fine, fine. I will speak no more.”

“I’ve never met Aladdin”, Hakuryuu suddenly mused.

Morgiana jumped to her feet. “Come on, then.”

  
-

Saying he was not both scared and nervous would be a lie; however, saying he was too petrified to move was an understatement.

Kougyoku literally had to drag him across the yard, and even then, when she let him take over to approach the correct person, he stepped forward with great hesitance. It was a long moment before Alibaba reached out, tapped on a guy’s shoulder.

Sinbad turned his head, his purple hair flying with the movement. When his eyes found the younger boy, it was subconscious they turned a little stern. It took a moment to correct that, and he plastered a grin onto his face with relative ease.

“Alibaba! Been a while.”

“Y-Yeah”, the blonde said, voice a little low-pitched. “It’s good to see you, Sinbad. How have things been?”

“Good.” He nodded once, did it again with the next word. “Good.” His eyes traveled to the one behind Alibaba, quickly flicking back over to the boy, and he couldn’t help the slight mischievous glimmer he knew shined in his amber eyes. “And who is this”, he asked, gesturing to the boy’s companion.

“Oh, she’s-”

“K-Kougyoku”, she sputtered, completely stricken. This was the one Alibaba wanted to talk to? She’d have to stick closer to the blonde, then. Maybe she’d run into others like this “Sinbad”, with his tall frame, his dreamy complexion. “I-” She stopped, choking on her words forcefully as she spied a silver band on Sinbad’s finger. She balled her hands up into her shirt’s long sleeves, bringing them up to her face. “I-It’s nice to meet you”, she said as indifferently as she could, turning her head slightly.

“Mhm.” SInbad arched an eyebrow at Alibaba, but ultimately didn’t question anything, much to the boy’s relief and amusement. “You as well.” He turned fully back to the boy, patted his shoulder a couple times maybe a little more roughly than necessary. “Good to see you.”

Now it was Alibaba’s turn to drag Kougyoku around, the girl feeling dizzy and lightheaded. He could barely contain his laughter, and it only made her face heat up more.

“Oh god, he probably thinks I’m a slut”, she moaned. “Or a prostitute, or _something_ -”

“N-No”, Alibaba wheezed out. “I’m sure he doesn’t.”

“I bet he does.” She beat her palms against her face. “I didn’t even notice the ring -I’m such an idiot”, she moaned. “Was his wife there? Oh she probably hates me.”

“No wife. Not married yet”, Alibaba told her.

She buried her head in her hands. “Fiancee, then. I’m so ashamed of myself! Was I supposed to notice the ring?” _Sooner_ , she added silently.

“I think you were a little too caught up noticing everything else.”

“Stop that”, she hissed, punching his arm. He only laughed harder.

“That settles it. I’m taking you to these things more often.”

“Oh joy”, Kougyoku muttered.

**  
-**

The second time Alibaba and Morgiana talked that night, he managed to hand her the envelope that had been sitting in his pocket.

She glanced a few times from her hands to his face. “What is this?”

“Open it.”

With much hesitance, she did. It took a moment, with the top split, for her to look inside. Upon doing so, she jerked back, wide eyes gazing up at Alibaba.

Inside sat two one hundred dollar bills.

The blonde smiled quite sheepishly at her reaction. “It’s not much, but I thought you could use-”

She threw her arms around him, pulling him into a full-on embrace.

“Thank you”, she whispered. “Thank you so much. This means so much-”

“Hey, don’t worry about it”, he murmured, patting her back. “And you’re gonna do great, no matter where you go.”

She hoped so.

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey there guys! this was actually finished quite some time ago, i just wanted to make sure nothing needed to be changed as i furthered the plot along. 
> 
> quick little note, you'll hear the word brad mentioned throughout this chapter. it's the name of the college most of the characters attend. just so there's no confusion!
> 
> hope you enjoy it!

Aladdin clocked out around ten, with Sin’s insistence, saying they could watch a movie another night. His complaints were quiet things, a buzzing that bounced back to the main room via the hallway that led to the two bedrooms.

Sinbad stayed up a bit more, if only to keep Ja’far company. He fixed coffee, gave massages, replaced dried-out highlighters. But, he had a limit. Around one, he too retired, leaving with a string of words about not staying up too late.

The lights dimmed, noise tuning out to just the faint scrape of ink on paper. Ja’far could hear his own breathing, faint and light, in the stillness. Sooner than expected, the night began to drain away, slowly filling the room with dim, natural light.

Ja’far flipped a page in his textbook.

Morning sounds began to fill the small apartment. Sounds of footsteps, heavy from drowsiness, on the wooden flooring; of running water; of faint music from Aladdin’s room.

He didn’t hear any of it, his eyes scanning back through a passage, hand bending forward to color a few lines out of it.

A hand landed on his shoulder and he jumped, spare yellow marks dotting the page where his hand slipped. Ja’far whipped his head around, fixing his wide eyes on Sinbad’s own.

“You scared me”, he gasped.

“I-Sorry? I didn’t mean to.” He frowned suddenly, bending forward to gaze into dark grey eyes. “How long have you been up?”

Ja’far turned away, focusing intently on the wall across the room. “I didn’t . . exactly go to sleep.”

“What? Ja’far it’s-” Sin slapped a hand to his forehead. “You’re still highlighting? Jesus, it’s seven-thirty! What time is your test?”

“Ten”, he mumbled. How time flew by, too fast for him to take back what had been stolen.

“Don’t you think it’s time for you to go over what you’ve finished so far?”

He shrugged, gazing back down at the pages. “That would be for the best.”

Too quickly, the black and white and yellow disappeared, replaced by the sweats he had put on the day before. He snapped his head up, fixing Sin with a glare. “What are you doing?”

“It takes ten minutes to get Aladdin to school and back”, Sinbad stated. “During that time, you will at least shower. It’s too late to sleep, you’ll wake up too tired to do anything else. I’m taking this-” He held up the book, “with me, for good measure.”

Ja’far groaned, flopping helplessly halfway off the couch. His eyes found his son, entering the room slowly. “Aladdin, he’s bullying me!”

Aladdin only looked to Sinbad. “Did he stay up all night again?”

“Apparently so. Here are the keys, I’ll be down in a sec.”

As soon as the door shut, Ja’far heaved himself up, effectively stripping off his shirt for good measure. “I’m going”, he muttered, twice. He made it a few steps before hands slid around his waist.

“What’s this one over”, Sin murmured by his ear.

“Spinal boarding. As in, all possible maneuvers, all injuries, all types, everything.”

“Three more days.”

“Mm.” He leaned his head back to rest on Sin’s shoulder, only to have him pull away.

“I’m off. Ten minutes”, he called.

Ja’far slumped forward, but continued his walk nonetheless.

 

-

The first thing he heard was his name being called, all excited and friendly -and what a lie that front was. The second thing he heard was a ringing in his ears and his teeth being pushed in, but when the fist left his jawline, he found that _thankfully_ all of his teeth were still intact.

“Oww! What the hell was that for?” Mystras took a step back, holding a hand up to his bruising cheek.

“For not answering my calls”, Hakuyuu replied, crossing his arms.

“Sorry. I was a little busy”, Mystras muttered.

“With what? A girl?” He stepped closer, got in the red-head’s face. Still had that innocence around him. “No, didn’t think so.”

“C-Cut that out!” He reached out, pushed the boy back.

“Aw, just having a little fun”, Hakuyuu laughed. “Where’s Sinbad?”

“Not here yet.”

“Huh. What’s he doing?”

Mystras shrugged, hands rising along with his shoulders. “Dunno. I was making an _observation_ , since he’s not standing with us.” He leaned his head back with a groan. “Damn, that _hurt_. What did you even call about?”

“To see if committing murder would be a hindrance to my political career.”

“Hakuyuu I’m a forensics major, not a law one.”

“Great! You can tell me how to do it and not get caught.”

“You are insufferable sometimes. Who is it?”

“Ahh just . . you know, my uncle. Again.”

Mystras raised an eyebrow. “And Kouen?”

“He’s there.”

“But not doing anything?”

“See, that’s where you are mistaken. His presence is suffocating. The guy’s like a newborn pup whenever I’m around.”

“You know that just means he admires you.”

“Yeah well it’s _annoying_. Not anything to kill him over, though.”

“Which brings us back to your uncle.”

Hakuyuu pressed a hand to his eyes. “Forget I brought that up. I don’t want Sinbad hearing about it, God knows he’ll only drag me to Drakon.” He waved Mystras off with his other hand. “It’s just family strife. The usual.”

“Sure . .”

Sometimes Mystras wondered if it was a bad thing, that he never pried, never got deeper into the issue.

Only time would tell.

 

-

Ja’far opened the door pretty much dressed in the most comfortable clothes -that were not pajamas- that he could manage to find. A towel was swung over his damp hair, hand moving it around. Steam billowed out from behind him.

It literally took him one step before he was greeted with coffee, steam rising around the edges of the mug. The smell of it was intoxicating enough for him to drop the towel, kick it back into the bathroom.

Sinbad smiled down at him as he took his first sip, then his second, the fire slowly coming back into his eyes.

“Where’s my book”, Ja’far asked, walking past him with an indifferent expression. Sin could only smile. He knew how thankful the med student was.

“On the table. You still have a couple hours, so don’t start off in a mad rush.”

He sat down with a huff, taking another sip of the hot drink and sliding the textbook towards him. “Yes, Sin.”

“I’ll drive you there. Just let me know when you’re ready.”

Ja’far moved his head slightly, seeing Sinbad moving in the opposite direction, further into their apartment. A small smile came upon his face as he turned back around.

Sometimes, he had the best fiancee.

 

-

_His breaths came in deep, ragged shutters._

_There were voices all around him, all ranged in their pitch, all too far away to make anything out._

_His arms hung loosely at his sides, not able to do anything. Smoke taunted his lungs, his throat, being around his enough to irritate the skin there, but not enough to do any real damage._

_Blue-grey irises felt dry and swollen, no matter how much tearing up might have been a relief._

_When his eyes flicked away from the burning structure before him, there was too much movement for him to find a focus source. He sunk to his knees in dizziness, bringing the attention of the one beside him along with it._

_Sinbad’s hands unclenched, eyes flicking to the form now on the ground. He reached over, wrapped an arm around his companion’s shoulder, sagging his weight down to his left knee._

_It was a few minutes more before they got attention, before an authoritative figure acknowledged the presence of the young college students. It came in the form of not a harsh bark, but the pained, strained voice of someone not wanting to unintentionally inflict pain._

_“Hey, you two boys. The premises is on lockdown until the situation is taken care of.”_

_Sinbad tensed, grip going tighter._

_Hakuyuu only looked up at the person, and this time, tears did spill, running cold and wet down his cheeks in contrast to the heat engulfing the area. “That’s my house”, he choked out._

_The one coming crashing down from the fire raging inside. The one that held the family no one had yet to evacuate. The one where he stood on the edge of, unable to do anything, anything at all._

_The one who approached them backed away, let them alone, unsure how to console. Later, another unfamiliar presence came back, passing Sinbad a blanket, which he proceeded to wrap around both him and Hakuyuu, hunkering down to sit on the pavement._

_It felt like hours, that they waited, before distinct shouts were heard, were acknowledged. Hakuyuu looked up and over to a side entrance, seeing shadowy silhouettes exiting, rounding back, coming closer. His heartbeats quickened as he made a motion to stand._

_Sin let go of his hold on the blanket, standing as well to watch a stretcher being carried by several people come down to the ambulance patiently waiting._

_They quickly made their way over, shoving past spectators and onlookers, those who had no business being there, those that only made Hakuyuu quicken his pace, keep his head down._

_It was Hakuei. Her eyes were barely open, mouth trying to convulse words, fingers on a single hand twitching. She caught sight of Hakuyuu and her eyes opened a little more, mouth working a bit, strained sounds coming from her parted lips. He stepped forward and cupped one of her hands in both of his own._

_“More”, she heavily rasped out, head barely inclining back towards their burning house. “Still . . there . .”_

_Hakuyuu shook his head. “Sinbad”, he said lowly. “Ride with her.”_

_The purple-haired man obliged, waiting until they loaded Hakuei up before slipping inside, casting one last glance to his friend to see him walking away to resume his wait, to see if anyone else came out._

_Beside him, Hakuei burst into tears._

_-_

_The waiting room was bland and cold and harsh. Sitting in it brought the realness of the situation home. Sitting in it for two hours with no news brought in these troubling thoughts of severeness, thoughts like death and incapacitation and paralysis._

_It felt like forever, that Sin had sat there with his head low. What a great blessing it was, when his shoulder was tapped, when he looked up to Hakuyuu and small styrofoam coffee cups and his presence because someone else was there._

_He accepted the cup gratefully, taking a few sips while the other took a seat. “Who else”, he managed to get out._

_“Hakuryuu probably has third-degree on his face”, Hakuyuu answered. “I rode with him here, couldn’t not, what with the way he was looking at me, like if I left I’d never come back. He’s in surgery now.” A pause. “And Hakuei?”_

_“No news”, Sinbad murmured, clasping his hands in front of him._

_“I see.”_

_The wait resumed. Still, there was slight comfort in knowing that neither was there alone._

_After about ten minutes, a door opened at the opposite end, one lone policeman stepping through, voice rough and edged. “The damn Rens. Just make sure she can talk longer next time!”_

_That perked up the boys’ interests, and they looked at one another before hurrying to stand._

_“By Ren, did you mean Hakuei Ren”, Sinbad called out._

_The policeman turned slightly towards them, casting them an offhanded glance and snuffing. “Yeah-”_

_“Why would you be allowed in? Why weren’t we informed”, Hakuyuu suddenly spat, taking a few more steps forward._

_“Look kid, I’m here to follow up on why a house fire killed three”, the policeman snapped. “I have more authority than the bond of friends.”_

_“Three?” SInbad quickly glanced from Hakuyuu to the door the man had come from. “Which three?”_

_“You’ll find out soon enough”, he snorted, continuing his walk down the hall._

_Beside Sin, Hakuyuu drew in a shaky breath._

_“I didn’t know”, he began. “Sinbad, I didn’t know. I-” His head snapped up. “Hakuei. What if she’s-”_

_His words were cut down by a bodily shove forward. “Walk”, Sin gruffed, waiting until his friend obliged to follow. They somehow managed to gain entrance into that particular room, claiming both on the side of family. What they found inside was less than pleasant, but not as bad as it could be._

_Numerous machines were set into rhythmic beeping around a bed prone to hospitals, the back slightly lifted. Hakuei’s face was pale next to the white of the sheets, her dark hair only adding onto that effect. She was breathing through a mask, each tiny exhale made audible to the boys. Her arms were littered with needles and their attached tubes, each connecting to the machines that were slowly beginning to fade into the background._

_She looked awful, but she was alive._

_They didn’t stay long, the news obtained from the previous visitor too shocking to not investigate. A nurse at the receptionist counter led them know Hakuryuu was still in surgery, and to just wait a bit longer._

_And that answered the question. Hakuyuu sagged heavily against Sinbad, his face in both his hands. “Ren”, he mumbled. “Hakuren. He’s . .”_

_Back into the chairs, back into the whirlwind of emotions that followed terrible tragedy. They waited for more news, because at that point, it took all their strength to grasp onto the tendrils of hope._

 

-

“Hey, you have mail.”

Hakuryuu popped his head into the room, the rest of him still concealed behind the wall. “I do? Must be the admissions letter.” He ventured further after saying this, letting his hand curl around the envelope Hakuei extended towards him.

“Oh? That reminds me, you never told me where you applied.” She leaned back against the counter, watching his fingers rip up the top, reach in to grab the papers within.

It was a card. From his uncle, no less. Just a simple note, congratulating him on his graduation. He turned it around to let Hakuei see.

“Yeah I made sure to avoid that conversation.”

She held a hand up to her lips to prevent him from seeing her smile. The cheesiest cards, like always. In lieu of her lips, her eyes softened in understanding. Admissions letters came after you were out of high school, not a month or so prior. “You’re the top, aren’t you? Could probably get into anywhere. Willing to share now?”

He shrugged. “Don’t say that, might jinx me.” She did laugh at this, an abrupt, high thing that lasted a few seconds.

“Is it Brad?”

“Not exactly.”

“Oh? Where, then?”

He bit his lip, chewing on it absentmindedly. “Actually I . . applied to an online school”, he said hesitantly.

Her smile died upon hearing the words. This was what she was afraid of. “This is about money, isn’t it? Haven’t I told you before-”

“What? No! No, God Ei, no.” He turned away. “I knew you would say that. That’s not the issue here.”

“Then what is?”

“It- . . . I want to stay with you”, he said, switching his train of thought.

“If that’s the case, then Brad-”

Too soon, he was thrown back on track. “But _he’s_ there.” Hakuryuu couldn’t help but notice the rise in his voice, and turned away in an apology.

Hakuei crossed her arms, sagging where she stood. “He avoids me, seeing as I’ve never ran into him there. Who’s to say he won’t do the same to you?”

“But what if he _doesn’t_ ”, he insisted. “What if he comes up to me? What if I see him? What then?”

Her lips trembled. “I didn’t know it bothered you this much.”

He shook his head. “Are you kidding? After what he did to you? I- . . I’m scared, Ei”, he admitted. “Online school will be a chance to stay here with you and not have to worry about running into him. Because I don’t want that.” He looked back up at her, his face raw with emotion. “Are you okay with that?”

She rocked away from where she had been leaning, covering the space between them quite quickly and embracing him tightly. “Of course”, she murmured. “I’ll always support you, Hakuryuu, no matter what decisions you make.”

“Thank you. I needed to hear that. More than you know.”

She leaned back a bit. “Does he really bother you that much? Hakuyuu?”

“He did some terrible things.”

“That was a time ago.”

“So you’ve forgiven him?”

“I’ve moved on”, she shrugged. “Not that he has, but I have.”

Hakuryuu shook his head. “I can’t accept that. It was wrong of him, to shut you out.”

Her eyes softened, coming back to gaze into his blue ones. “He never shut you out.”

“That’s exactly why I’m afraid.”

 

-

_Sometime, a doctor came to fetch them, said Hakuei was awake._

_She was crying, when they came into the room. Immediately asked about Hakuryuu, about everyone else._

_They had to tell her about the deaths. For her to find out later would have been cruel. She sank heavily back into the bed. Hakuryuu was still in surgery, as far as they knew. That, at least, was the bare bones of okay news. She tried to smile for them, but failed miserably._

_“This is all my fault”, she whispered to the tile above her head._

_Hakuyuu, with his sharp ears, caught the words, looked over to her. “What?”_

_She shook her head. “I just-” She choked up, took a moment to adjust. “Didn’t mean to.” She shook her head again, harshly, looked over to her brother with pained eyes. “Just wanted to read by candlelight.” The machines began to beep loudly, signalling an abnormality. “Didn’t notice. Couldn’t stop it-” She choked herself up again, with a lump in her throat, with the tears blurring her vision._

_Sinbad stood up, appearing panicked._

_Nurses flooded the room, pushing both of them away, crowding around Hakuei._

_Hakuyuu stood on the edge of it all, not sure what to think. Was she saying . . “Are you saying you started it”, he suddenly yelled._

_“Sir, you need to leave”, one of the nurses called, turning towards the two. Hakuei’s hysterics grew, became louder._

_Hakuyuu grabbed Sinbad by his shoulder, practically dragged him out. His purple-haired friend still didn’t know what to think. Had she been confessing to starting the fire? That seemed logical, but . ._

_It took some time, to calm Hakuyuu down. To get him to sit in a chair without beating on it, or on his legs._

_It took even longer for word of Hakuryuu to come to them. When they were told the surgery was over, that they could go in and see him, they were led to his room._

_Unconscious. Not dead, just sleeping. Drugged. That was what they were told._

_His face was in pretty bad shape. Breathing could’ve been better, too. One of the doctors told them it would be a bit before the smoke’s effects wore off._

_Monstrous tubes were hooked to various parts of the young boy’s body, but neither of the boys could make out any significant injuries besides the burns on his face, peeking out from behind bandages._

_They stayed there for a long time, alone._

_It was a long time before Hakuyuu spoke. When he did, Sinbad couldn’t believe his words._

_“She . . She did this.” He gestured to Hakuryuu. “We’re lucky he’s alive. But he’s still in bad shape. She did this. She did . . How could she . .” He stood up, hands clenched at his sides. “My parents . . Ha-Hakuren-” He had to stop. It was too much. Sinbad took the lead in the speech._

_“It was an accident, Hakuyuu. She didn’t mean it. She feels awful.”_

_The Ren turned and beat a fist to Sinbad’s chest. “She still did it! My brother is dead, Sinbad. He didn’t deserve that. Hakuryuu doesn’t deserve_ this _-” He was spitting now, consumed with rage._

_“Hakuyuu”, Sinbad shouted back. The room fell silent._

_“You’re going to wake-”_

_“Whoooos . .”_

_They both turned at the slurred word, hurried to the bed. Hakuryuu had one eye open. It was glazed. He looked over to his brother._

_“Yuu . . What ha . .”_

_A hand came to rest in Hakuryuu’s, squeezing slightly. “Don’t worry about it”, Hakuyuu told him. “Everything is fine now. Everything is going to be fine.”_

_“Why are . . cry . .”_

_He reached up, touched his older brother’s cheeks. They were wet._

_Hakuyuu shook his head. “I’m just happy that you’re okay. Okay? You’re okay.”_

_Hakuryuu nodded to him. It was a slow, heavy thing that took a lot of effort._

_He fell back into his slumber shortly after._

_-_

_Hakuei spent a month in the hospital._

_Hakuryuu spent two._

_Eventually, once she was stable, and even then some, Sinbad came back. Told her Hakuryuu was going to be fine. He came back occasionally, talked about different things. Hakuyuu never came with him._

_Once she was well enough to move, she visited her younger sibling. Saw his scars, saw his smiles slightly falter at her presence. She came around once and waited a week to do so again._

_He said he missed her, when she came next. Told her Hakuyuu’s plan to get a dorm room. Asked what they would do._

_He was smarter than she gave him credit for. She had thought about it, truthfully, when she couldn’t move much. She was eighteen. Could essentially get a place. But what to do about him?_

_He told her Hakuyuu wanted him to come live with him, said he could work something out with the school. But she couldn’t come. So he had declined. And Hakuei knew she was stuck with him, whether she liked it or not -oh, but really, she was so happy she hadn’t lost him too._

_Paperwork would need to be filled out, to make her his legal guardian. She had money to get an apartment right then, but it was their conditions to think about. At the very least, they would have to stay at their uncle’s for a bit. Shouldn’t be so hard, considering the accommodations._

_She promised to come again sooner, and when she did, it was only a few minutes until Koumei barged in, casting a sleepy gaze from her to Hakuryuu. His hair was barely held up in a knot, the most he had managed that morning. He stood for a few moments, all three staring at the other, before going to the end of the bed and taking a seat._

_“Your medical bills are being taken care of”, he murmured to them, barely able to get it out before a yawn overtook him. He glanced around lazily, wondering if he could camp out here for a few days, avoid work and errands that involved him waking up early._

_Hakuryuu turned to his sister, eyes shining with the unspoken words of ‘I am excited and this is our chance can I ask him?’ Hakuei only nodded slightly, hunching her shoulders as she suddenly felt as tired as the red-head in the room looked. At least they had been greeted by the presence of the easiest cousin to deal with._

_Koumei, surprisingly, said yes to them staying over. No ‘I’ll have to ask’ or anything. It made Hakuei suspicious, almost like he had been expecting it. He guessed her thoughts with his next words, telling them that they could camp out in his room if it meant getting them out of here soon, that he felt entirely sorrowful for them and if his father said no, he would stow them away in some abandoned part of the larger-than-average house, or, more specifically, his quarters._

_Hakuei hummed while Hakuryuu beamed, gripping her hand with a strength that made her wince. The noise turned both of the boys’ attention on her, Koumei suggesting she get some rest, that he would keep Hakuryuu company. It was only after she was out the door that the redhead told his younger cousin he was going to sleep, surprisingly met with no arguments from the usually-chatty boy. Koumei didn’t know what to think of that. The boy must have been worse off than he thought._

_-_

_Everything did actually work fine in the arrangements. Hakuei got her own temporary room in the house, and when she brought Hakuryuu there, it would be a room for two._

_She had taken things slow, per heavy doctors orders. More appointments were set up and visits to her younger brother set in between. Surely, though, the light came back into her expression, and when she smiled or laughed, it wasn’t out of politeness, it wasn’t fake._

_There was permanent damage to the left side of Hakuryuu’s face. The eye on that side wasn’t quite classified as legally blind, but there was a problem unable to fix, and as a result, everything appeared a bit dimmer out of it. The doctor told them the light had decreased by forty-five percent that of a regular person’s. Hakuryuu didn’t seem to mind much, so Hakuei tried to keep positive. There were more papers to fill out for it, though. Appointments to set and prescriptions to fill and people to call._

_Hakuryuu nearly broke down on the way to their relative’s house. Told her he felt like they would laugh at him, because of how he looked now._

_Hakuei told him if they did, he could punch them._

_That about halfway solved his self-conscious issue._

_The other half was solved by Kouha, one of the house’s usual residents._

_Before the fire, Kouha’s biggest concern was trying to convince Koumei to let him drive his car -the bastard had one despite never using it- and not wreck it. Now, in the lull of the summer with absolutely nothing to do, his thoughts turned to the recluse that was his cousin of a lesser two years._

_He found him letting himself into the boy’s bubble, and, upon getting no rejection, proded further and further. Hakuryuu didn’t mind. He was glad to have someone to talk to, to have someone who didn’t avoid him because of his scars. Kouha only laughed at him upon his voicing this, saying it was a mark of strength. That have the boy a little hope._

_When August rolled around, Hakuei succeeded in getting an apartment, in moving them out. She considered dropping her application to Brad, but then came the news of Koumei, recent high school graduate such as herself. The news? He had decided he was done with people. That meant no school. While it came as a little shock to them all -after all, Koumei wasn’t the most . . social one of the group- people left him alone. He gave his scholarship money to Hakuei, which convinced her to go through with the semester._

_She then approached Hakuryuu about his thoughts on school. And, after much thinking, he decided he would continue on with middle school. “Because when else would I get the chance to see Morgiana?”_

_After funerals and processions and Hakuyuu’s blatant avoidance of Hakuei, money was divided up._

_She didn’t get much._

_Her life could’ve been better, but she would take what she could get. Hakuryuu was more than willing to give up some of his part -which was, well, a_ lot _\- to help with necessities. Things like food, clothing, technology, other various supplies for their new life. Hakuei was getting better, but she was still strained, so getting a job was out of the question. Hakuryuu helped to make sure their lives were a little easier._

_He only got a call, once, from a number he knew quite well. The conversation was an interesting one._

_Hakuei was the one to bring him his phone, thinking it was hers, and upon seeing the ID, Hakuryuu asked her why she didn’t just answer. She shook her head, sitting back down across from him, and he held the phone up to his ear._

_“Haku? Is that you?”_

_“ . . Yeah. It is.”_

_“How’ve you been?”_

_A laugh, then, “I should be asking you that, kiddo.”_

_“I’m fine.” His gaze flicked to the long-haired girl near him. “Ei is, too.” Her eyes flicked up to meet his, a tight smile on her lips._

_“That’s . . . . great.”_

_Now it was his turn to act. “What’s up with that?”_

_“Listen, Hakuryuu. I want  . . I want you staying with me.”_

_“What? But what about Ei-”_

_“Hakuei can take care of herself. I’m worried about you. I don’t want you there-”_

_“What’s wrong with me being here?”_

_His voice had risen. She could guess the discussion topic clear-as-day, and her grip tightened around her textbook, something she had received from Kouen, him having taken the same basic class a couple years back. She kept her head down._

_Hakuyuu was stuttering, going back and forth between various ways to say what he wanted. Why was he being difficult? Why couldn’t he just come live with him, make things easier?_

_“Ei told me, you know”, Hakuryuu said quietly. “About . . it.” He felt eyes on him, so he stayed rigid, trying not to look her way, knowing he would break down if he did. “I don’t blame her, Haku. I don’t.” His last words were a whisper._

_Silence. The only sign he hadn’t been hung up on was the non-existent presence of a dial-tone. He waited in patience._

_“Hakuren is gone”, a slightly-choked response came. “He’s gone, and I feel so lost. if I can’t blame her, then who else-?”_

_“No one. You don’t blame anyone. You move on.” His tone might have been harsh, but he felt like being harsh._

_“I don’t know that I can.”_

_Hakuryuu took a deep breath, in and out. “ . . Love you, Haku.”_

_He ended the call, and looked up to see Hakuei in tears, the book held in place on the ends of her knees with her shaking hands._

_She let it drop, her lip trembling, and curled up in her seat, face in hands. Hakuryuu came to sit beside her._

_“I thought you were going to hate me, when I first came to visit”, she finally told him, calmed down just enough to talk between sobs. “I was terrified. I came back so late only by coincidence, figuring you didn’t want to see me. I didn’t know you felt that way. I  . .” She shook her head._

_“Things happen”, he argued. “You can’t hold this against yourself. We’ll get by. We_ are _getting by.”_

_They sat there for an infinite time, taking comfort in the other’s presence. They were going to be fine._

_ They were. _


	3. Chapter 3

“So? How did it go?”

“You sound way too chipper.”

“It’s the middle of the day, why shouldn’t I be?”

Ja’far shook his head. “Not the point. It went good. Better than the last.”

“One more day.”

“One more day.” He suddenly hunkered down into his seat, crossing his arms over his knees, which were bunches to his chest, somehow. He and Sin were sitting in some parking complex, barren for all it was worth, the car off. Sometimes it helped, to get away from everything, to have no distractions, to be able to just talk and relax.

“Tell me the truth”, he mumbled, fiddling with a piece of platinum hair. “Do you mind, me taking that job?”

It was a longer pause than expected. His eyes were lowered, looking down at the car’s floorboard, so he didn’t see when Sinbad reached out, took his hand with both of his own. He flicked his eyes over, meeting amber ones as they looked back.

“If it is what you want, I have no issues. I just . . think you need to realize that this is a big change.” He dropped his hands into his lap, twisting so that he better faced the car’s other passenger. “Just because you work night shifts doesn’t mean you get to come home and have the whole day to do whatever. You need sleep, or you’ll run out of fuel. With a job as demanding as that? Yeah, you need lots of sleep. That’s not up for discussion. It’s just going to be so much change, Ja’far. I don’t mind any of it, as long as you don’t.” His eyes flashed on the last bit, a challenging thing. He wanted him to say, yes, he would mind being on a different schedule than everyone he cares about, and that maybe something a bit more lax would be better.

But he didn’t.

He put on that small, easy smile, and leaned his head back against the seat, and nodded to him. “I don’t. I know, all of it. But this is what I want to do, Sin.”

“Then I have no problems.”

And he didn’t. In that moment, he wiped away any insecurities. Because he was a support beam, and if he had a crack, if that caused him to fall, then who would be there to replace him? There was no-one.

A hand lazily reached up, turned the key into the ignition. “Let’s go get Aladdin.”

-

_“Hey, Alibaba. I . . have a question.”_

_Those golden eyes blinked up towards her, the lights from behind hitting his face, allowing her to see him. That wry smile was on his face, and he nodded once, signaling for her to continue. His eyes squinted when he faced her fully, turning in his seated position. She was the moon nearly in front of the sun, invisible compared to the brightness from behind and around her._

_Her head bent down just a bit, eyes wandering to the ground, avoiding his gaze. “You don’t have to answer, but . . . where did you get that cut on your face?” Her fingers twitched, slightly curling in her lap, eyes flickering from his back to anything but._

_The smile flicked into a slight frown, a hand coming up to rest on the wound. “This? say from what here.”_

Liar. _“I see._ ” Liar liar liar. Why do you lie? Why do you feel the need? _Her knees knocked together just a bit. It was silent for a few moments._

_Then a ringing broke through, crushing the wall with its high-pitched sound._

_They both looked up in surprise, Alibaba acting first, turning to dig out his phone. His head dipped away from her, back into the shadows the light didn’t quite reach, concealing him partially. Very faintly, she could see his slight frown turn into the real deal. He murmured words too quiet, too harsh, for her to hear. And then it ended. The phone disappeared, the light shone on half of his face, and a wry smile she knew was fake was plastered to his face, right below his nose._

_“Sorry, I have to head out. See you tomorrow?”_

_Where? She wanted to say it. Where, and could she come, and will you be okay? Will you come back with more cuts on your face? Will you come back at all? Instead she nodded, leaned forward to sit a step lower, on his level. She pressed her fingers to the concrete._

_“See you whenever”, She murmured. “You can come back anytime. You can come back at four in the morning, and I’ll be here, okay?”_

_Those yellow eyes softened and came to rest on hers. “Okay”, he agreed._

_She tightened her fingers around the ground. “You’re my friend, Alibaba. I hope you know you can tell me anything.” They were shaking, so she pressed them into fists. They still shook._

_He noticed, took one of them on both of his, held it tightly. “I know.” His voice was barely a whisper. “I know. I’m okay. I know.”_

_She nodded and he stood, hands still around hers._

_“Kougyoku”, he whispered, and she looked up. The smile was back._

_“I’ll be back.”_

_And when he did leave, it was only then that she noticed her cheeks were wet. For how long, she would never be able to say._

-

“Alibaba!”

Right after she said his name, Pisti enveloped him in a hug.

This always happened when he went to see Pisti.

Not that he didn’t mind. The girl was a ball of sunshine, creative, and an advice master. But more than that, she was a break from life. Alibaba felt like he was in a different world when around her.

She worked in a music store, which is where they were now. Fitting, since she was a musical genius - “Am not!”- with a music major at Brad. She wasn’t much older than him, but through all the hell he’d been through, Pisti made it seem like she’d been through a lot worse. Which, she probably did, she had that atmosphere. Not that that was a bad thing, either.

The music store was homey, as always. Pisti had left her station to come greet him, but she tugged him down, told him to play along anyhow, and made him follow her over to the pianos. He was shoved into a seat and she leaned against a record shelf, beckoning him onward. “You won’t know you like it until you try it out”, she said, way too chipper than necessary.

Alibaba had never touched a piano in his life, so he stabbed a few keys, glancing up at Pisti afterwards. He just barely caught her cupped hands against her thighs. Ah. That seemed better.

So his hands went cupped over the keys, most of his fingers touching down. He still stabbed randomly, but it sort of looked like he knew what he was doing now.

“How is it”, Pisti asked, tipping her head. Her hands were clasped in front of her.

“ . . Oh-Good! Really good.”

The smile tightened around her pale lips. “That’s good . .”

Feeling a presence, Alibaba glanced to his left out of the corners of his eyes, seeing a woman with a manager nametag on walking past. Or, more like gliding. Did her feet even touch the ground?

“Keep up the good work, Pisti”, she called out before moving on.

The smile tightened until it technically wasn’t a smile anymore. “I hate her”, she muttered.

Alibaba tipped his head. “New manager? What’s so wrong about her?”

She nodded to him. “Yeah, since the old one never showed up. And she’s an attention hog! I swear she got the job by being a slut to the owner. She’s new to the city, let alone the store. It’s-”

“Unfair?”

A pout, simple as that, wound onto her face. “So unfair”, she muttered. “Oh, but if you do me a solid and buy that piano, I will owe you for life.”

His eyes grew. “What? Do you think I have money to spend in the first place, let alone so ravishly?”

“Yeah, you’re right. Sorry.” She shrugged. “Though, it would boost my sales enough that maybe-”

“Not happening.”

Her sigh seemed to echo around their little space of the store. “Oh fine.” She was sulking for all of four seconds before perking up to her full Pisti self. “Hey, are you going to Ja’far’s graduation?”

He pressed his lips into an unsure smile, looking away from her. “Not sure I was invited.”

She poked his shoulder. “Oh c’mon, of course you are! You practically lived with them for a few months, right? Why would you not be invited?” She poked his shoulder again. “Everyone’s gonna be there, I even convinced Spartos to get off work to go.”

Spartos was Pisti’s boyfriend. In contrast to Pisti’s playing of the piano, flute, cello, and keyboard -“which is actually similar to a piano anyways, so that doesn’t have to count.”- Spartos played the guitar, the one thing Pisti wanted and yet couldn’t learn to play.

She made him play every day, out of jealousy or just to brag Alibaba would never know. It had taken three years of lessons and struggles to finally convince the blonde she just wasn’t cut out to master the instrument, and it broke her heart. In some ways, you could say Spartos completed her musical aspect.

He was a redhead and knew Sinbad and Ja’far through his older redheaded brother, Mystras. The two couldn’t be more different, but at the same time, there were no complaints about it on his end. Alibaba liked each personality of theirs pretty much the same. Sometimes he needed someone as bubbly as Pisti and as smart as Ja’far to talk to, and other times, he was content with the odd remark the other would make, finding time to think to himself, but with the comfort of someone nearby.

Both brothers played guitar. For the longest time, Pisti had been their pick girl. Whenever picks would go missing, or got run over, sometimes smashed by a drunk brother, they would come to this store, and Pisti would give them top-quality picks free of charge. It was how she had asked Spartos out, sliding a pick onto his guitar after he had finished playing for the day, in the store for once. She had pulled it right from her red headband, instead of the bag in her jacket pocket. (It was a work jacket, which might have been odd attire for a uniform, but hey, it was a music store.) The words were written right on it, and he had said yes. Alibaba had thought it cute; Pisti insisted it was creativity bestowed unto her by the gods.

Alibaba never saw the pick again, and just figured Spartos would be too embarrassed by the words to play with it in public. Pisti insisted he still brought it out at times to play over at his place. Again, cute.

“I’ll see”, he mused.

“I could ask.”

He banged on a few more keys. She shook her head and made herself comfortable on the small bench, nearly pushing him off. “No no no”, she insisted. “Like this.”

And then she cupped her hands, pressed all of them to the keys, and split them up as far as she deemed feasible. After, she began to play, bringing her hands closer together with each second. Alibaba closed his eyes, just using his ears as his only sense. Some might think it sporadic when described, but she made it work, hands nearly on top of each other at the end.

“That’s how you play”, she breathed.

A smatter of footsteps caught Alibaba’s attention, and he looked up to see the manager lady walk past. “No messing around on the instruments”, she whispered to the employee beside him. And then she walked on.

Alibaba had to restrain her when the manager was finally out of sight. “I hate her”, she spat. “Like she could do better? I’d love to see her and her fat fingers try.”

“C-Calm down. You know, maybe I will have you ask them. If I could go to the graduation, I mean.”

She immediately softened in his grasp. “Really? Okay, I can do that. For sure.” Her lips taut, she stood and nodded to him. “If you’ll excuse me, I think I’ll get back to work before I rip somebody’s head off.

“You can’t see the graduation from prison”, he called to her.

She only laughed, shaking her head and not looking back.

-

_There wasn’t ever a specific thing he remembered._

_He got a call and he would come. The location was on the edge of town, at this big warehouse not really being used, but not really being locked up either. Occasionally more than a few people would be there, but otherwise, it was him and a couple others, and someone giving out orders._

_He supposed it was like a gang. If he were to describe it, that would be the word to use. Though, it really wasn’t. The group’s presence was unknown, a secret. They didn’t have any specific symbols or colors. They didn’t go around vandalizing stuff and breaking the law._

_No, they went around getting rid of trouble._

_Except this was the sort of trouble the law didn’t know about. Not the robbers, or the kidnappers, or even the murderers. These people knew how to hide. And hide well. And the things they did were horrid, yet their methods flawless._

_Alibaba couldn’t even remember when or why he had gotten involved. He supposed it had something to do with Mariam, and Cassim, but he wasn’t sure. Both of them were gone now. They had been gone for a long time._

_He moved forward, hiking up a hood to slightly conceal his bright hair. A woman sat on a box, clipboard and pen in hand. She glanced over at him when he was a few feet away, lazing flipping a page._

_He stopped a couple feet away and she moved her head to glance up at him before looking back down. “Name”, she asked._

_“Saluja.”_

_She pursed her lips, used her pen to scroll through the page. After a few moments she nodded and flicked the pen’s cap off. It landed somewhere off to the side. She scribbled a few markings and tapped her fingers against the paper._

_“Hold on”, she told him, turning to the back of the pages and looking through those. She found the one she was looking for and scanned it, locating what she needed and standing. “Okay, I have your assignment right here.” When she glanced back up at him, her eyes begged for a frown. “You might not like it much.”_

-

_It was a child._

_Maybe not a child, maybe a preteen._

_Oh fuck it, it was a child._

_He had to stop walking for a moment, crouching down in the shadow of a corner, just barely able to see the kid go into a building. This was happening. This was actually happening._

_Human trafficking._

_His palms hit the concrete hard, head slumping between his shoulders. True, it was a small ring, but he was supposed to take care of this by himself?_

No, it’s because it's me that they sent me alone _, he thought. Probably because of Mariam. God. Mariam. He still missed her so much._

_Alibaba had to adjust. it was something big to take in. He wouldn’t be able to solve it all within a day. This was information gathering._

_With that in mind, he picked himself up, crept forward._

-

S _he supposed she should have asked for more._

_Coins jangled in a bag tied around her waist while she walked, slightly swinging her hips as she did._

_The guy was already scared to bits, and they could always use a little extra money. Gas wasn’t cheap, and neither were plane tickets and internet rates. Oh well. She had missed out._

_“Miss?”_

_She heard it, the little croaking of a word. Knew she was in a room she should have not stepped in. Her head turned slowly towards the cot in the corner, towards the raggled-looking kid with matted hair sitting up on it, looking at her._

_“Miss-”_

_She left. Turned on her heels and left before the kid could say another word. It wasn’t her job to deal with them. It wasn’t in her heart to. She would simply find_ that one _, give him the money she had collected that day, scurry off to her little hole of a home. Yeah. Yeah, that sounded good._

_That is, until she heard a blood-curdling scream from far off._

__

-

_Things had not gone well._

_He just wanted to help, just wanted the kid to tell him what was going on, help the little one out of there. But he hadn’t been received well._

_His hand unlatched from the kid’s arm as soon as the screaming began. It actually startled him so much that he backed up a couple paces, ended up tripping and falling down, and sat there, staring at the kid._

_He had stopped screaming, just stood there clutching both his arms, muttering nonsense._

_“Just want to be somewhere else please. Just want to be alone oh away away from here, just away just please can’t stay here can’t take it-”_

_“Who the hell are you?”_

_Alibaba looked up at the demanding voice and into the eyes of a blue-haired woman, standing just behind the kid, who immediately stopped talking, looking behind him with a dim shine to his eyes._

_The woman put her hands on her hips and Alibaba could hear jangling. Her face was painted with a scowl, matched with leering eyes._

_Truthfully, he didn’t know what to make of any of it. He just sat there, mouth agape, eyes wide and staring, not able to say a word._

_The footsteps were quiet things, like someone sifting through sand, completely unlike the clattering of a small heel he had expected. He saw the flash of purple hair billowing around the man’s waist before anything else. When he spoke, the words weren’t gruff like what he had been expecting; instead they were candy-sweet, just a tad of bitterness added if you looked hard enough._

_“Yam? What’s going on?”_

_The woman in front of him never looked away, only twisted her scowl harder to respond. “This.”_

_The word felt like a release. Alibaba’s eyes leapt from her to the man entering, meeting cold amber eyes and a calmer-than-expected complexion. Yes, that alone confirmed this one would do something as this, like what happened to Mariam._

_“Who are you”, the man told him. His head was already cocked to look towards Alibaba, body twisting just a tad bit to face him more properly._

_Right as he finished the words Alibaba had a handgun out, his finger on the trigger. He didn’t even remember how he pulled it out; it had all happened so fast. He knew he could do it, though. Shoot. These people were the same as_ them _, that kid before him the same as Mariam. Who was he, to deny everyone held captive here freedom by his unwillingness to stain his hands? No, Alibaba was too selfless to do otherwise._

 _A flash of surprise waned in the amber eyes in front of him, but everything else on the man stood still. It was like he was challenging him, saying,_ come on, boy, you can’t do it, you won’t do it.

_Before he could, the gun was knocked cleanly out of his hands, skittering across the concrete that lined the compound. When he looked at the item that had done the trick, he saw it was a golden coin._

_Yam put her hand back onto her hip, her gaze going from proud back to the firm grip of fury. Satisfactory to hatred._

_The other man slightly tipped his head to her. “Seems you did well on this deal.”_

_“I always do well.”_

_Purple hair bounced around a lean body as the man laughed. “Yeah, I guess you do.” The smile disappeared as he turned back to face Alibaba, changing into something a little more stern. “Boy, I don’t know why you’re here, or what you’re after, but it’s been made clear you have the wrong intentions about us. Why don’t we have a little chat?” At the fear that flashed in Alibaba’s eyes, because_ no, no this can’t be happening I don’t want to go through what Mariam did not this oh God no, _the man’s frown deepened. “This will be of your own accord, no restrictions. I would appreciate it if you would not try and kill me until after the explanation, though.”_

_“We’re not gonna fucking hold you captive”, Yam growled. “We have enough to deal with as is.”_

_He didn’t know what to do. What was he do to? Before he knew it, he was nodding oh but why why why? Why was he going with them? Why was he accepting the man’s hand, sliding his gun back away in his clothes, following them both down a messy corridor why was he here what was going to happen to him._

_If the door stayed locked, did that mean this was the last room he would enter?_

_He tried to stay calm. There was nothing here. The man sat on the floor, woman leaning against the door. He crossed over to the edge of the room, sat curled into himself against the wall. The other two glanced at each other._

_“Why don’t we start with your name”, Yam began._

_“Ah, but we haven’t yet given ours, now have we?” The man before his shook his head. “I am Sinbad, and this is Yamuraiha. And you are?”_

_He felt like it was a demand, like if he didn’t answer he would die right then and there. The word came out stuttered and dry. “A-Alibaba.”_

_“Alibaba”, Sinbad repeated. “An unusual name.”_

_“I could say the same for the both of you”, he retorted. At those words, it became easier to speak, a bit of courage building up. “Pretty foreign, of you ask me. So where do you really live?”_

_Yamuraiha pushed herself off of the door, the impact leaving it jangling in the frame. Her arms, which had been curled to her chest, now stood at her sides, her hands fists. “I was born here you little twat”, she spat._

_“I’ll believe it when I see proof.”_

_“Why you-!”_

_“Stop”, Sinbad said, voice not really raised, but the word crashing into the room’s other two occupants. Yamuraiha calmed down and Alibaba was quick to shut up. Sinbad turned his attention towards him, his eyes having been closed in either thought or frustration before. “What is it you think we do, Alibaba?”_

_“You know what you do.”_

_“Apparently I don’t. I was under the impression we were doing something good.”_

_“Ha.” The word came out harsh. Alibaba glared at the two. “You think this is good? Because someone in another country gets a little kid to wash dishes or work in mines or be sexually messed with, and you get paid for it? Because it might be good for you, but it’s fucking hell for those kids who will never see their families again, who will never get another decent meal in their lives, who might die on the way there, who_ no one will ever know what happened to. _”_

_Yam let out a little gurgling sound. Alibaba looked over and his hardened gaze lifted just a bit. She was tearing up, and once she caught his gaze, she raised her hands to cover her mouth, turning to the side._

_Sinbad’s expression hadn’t turned to one of disbelief. It was one of pity, actually. “What have you been through”, he murmured._

_Alibaba tried to speak once more, but Sinbad cut him off._

_“You have the wrong people”, he began. “I don’t even know where to begin now -that’s not us. That’s a pathetic thing to do. What we do is mutual to both sides.”_

_He wasn’t having it, but he did lean back once more. “And?”_

_“We take kids from their homes and put them into new ones, ones where they will be cared for and loved and respected. It might be far away from their original home, but it’s not out of the country. They want it, to. Their home life is terrible -not being fed, not being treated like human beings. We get them into custody of people who will support them.”_

_“No offence, but that’s kind of hard to believe, considering this is a port city.”_

_“They take planes”, Yam said, fighting to keep her voice steady. “Sometimes trains, if it’s close enough. Never buses, never ships. We make sure they get there, safely. We have logs of the tickets, if you want proof. I would never . . sell a child. We’re making their lives better.”_

_She choked up on those last words, and somehow, even though he had met some pretty amazing actors in his life, Alibaba believed her. Her, though. The other one he still had doubts about._

_Speaking of him, Sinbad stood up. “Why don’t you let us show you”, he whispered, just loud enough for Alibaba to hear him clearly. He just nodded, and tried to prepare himself for the sights he would see._

-

_The compound wasn’t perfect._

_She kept telling herself this, trailing behind Sinbad and the trespasser. It wasn’t perfect, but it had never been perfect, and that was okay. It wasn’t spotlessly clean, but that was okay too. They had enough food, enough blankets, to keep the kids alive, surviving, before they got moved out to better places. It wasn’t great, it wasn’t perfect, but it’s what they had to work with._

_Since Yam started out here, she hadn’t heard one complaint from the kids. To them, this was good. It was the only good they had ever known._

_This person -Alibaba- he could take it all away. That scared her. What would they do? What would happen to all the kids? She didn’t want them to go back to those places._

_She felt a little self-conscious, only being in a pair of cargo pants and a loose-fitting tank -it was boiling outside, but she had to take precautions for the situations she was getting herself into. The money still slightly jangled at her side. After a minute, she separated from the two, putting the money in another room,_ locking it _, and then setting out to find them once more._

_She wasn’t very surprised when she found them with a few of the kids. They didn’t have many in the past couple weeks, which, she guessed was a good thing. Or a bad thing. You never knew if less meant there weren’t as many still out there, or if they were just hidden pretty well._

_Yam didn’t enter. She didn’t want to see the little one’s faces. But she listened, hands trembling at her sides._

-

_One was named Nani. She was seven. Said she was going to the west coast. A nod from Sinbad confirmed this. Nani had a big toothy smile on her face, even though she was practically wearing rags and her short, curly hair was in shambles._

_Another was Luke. Little red-head. Kept twiddling his thumbs. He was going up north, somewhere in Montana. Somewhere with clean air and lots of open space. A small cough shook his body after those words. Sinbad leaned over and put a hand on his shoulder, asked him if he was okay. Luke just nodded, his head dipping low._

_The last was Asaja. Cute girl. Still cute, even with the huge cut on the side of her face. Her smile was a bit shy, but it was also very warm. She was going south, towards Louisiana. Said she was ten. Looked like she was younger._

_They all seemed eager to have someone to talk to. And Alibaba asked all sorts of questions. Said they had met their future parents on a tablet screen. Said they were fed here, sometimes the air came on, other times it was a little warm, but still good. Still better than where they had come from. The eldest -Asaja- seemed to subconsciously tap her cut at this. Alibaba quickly asked another question._

_They were excited. Luke’s future parents had a kid that had asthma, just like him. Asaja wanted to see the ocean. Nani said her new mom was a hair person, her new dad a surgeon. She didn’t know what a surgeon was, though. “Some type of doctor, right?”_

_When Sinbad led him out, he felt saddened to leave._

_“That’s only a few of them now”, the man murmured to him. “There are more.”_

_“What happened to Asaja”, he whispered back._

_“Got there too late. Had to bribe one of the medical students from Brad to patch her up. She’s doing well, though. Going to a great family.”_

_He shook his head. Stopped. Which made Sinbad stop. The way his hair moved was making Alibaba irritated._

_“Sorry”, he muttered._

_Sinbad pretended like he didn’t hear him, turning back and gesturing forward. “Come on, we have another stop.”_

_At some point in time, Yamuraiha caught up with them. Her and Sinbad talked in hushed whispers in front of him._

_They stopped outside of an old-looking wooden door. It was white and splintered. With a few more words, Yamuraiha stepped to the side, and Sinbad opened the door, gesturing him in. He warily stepped forward, afraid he was being locked away, but alas, they both came in as well._

_Then he payed attention. And there was a lot to pay attention to._

_The walls were plastered with pictures of kids -”The ones that’ve ended up here”, Sinbad told him- everywhere you looked. They photos were grimy, and fuzzy, but they still met their purpose. Boxes of paper were scattered throughout. Yamuraiha pulled one up and sifted through it, eventually pulling out a paper and handing it to him. When he looked, he saw it was a receipt for Luke’s plane ticket to Montana. Half of it, anyway. The other half was made out to a Rick and Lorrie Johnson -shared account, Alibaba guessed._

_He handed it back. She dug through and placed it where it had been. Then crossed her arms, leaned against a filing shelf. Then pulled herself off of it, fidgeting with her hair._

_“Please don’t turn us in”, she blurted out. “What we’re doing is right. I mean, the parents would disagree, but they don’t want those kids. Or, if they do, it’s for the wrong reasons. it’s because they want them to be something other than kids, smiling, laughing, eating ice cream and swinging on swings.” She had to stop, take a breath. He cut her off before she could start anew._

_“No. No, I would never.” He nearly got choked up. “I don’t-I wouldn’t-No. I’m sorry.” He turned towards Sinbad. “I’m sorry.”_

_And he got a response he would have never expected._

_“Help us, then”, Sinbad said softly._

_Yamuraiha was trying to dry her tears, didn’t really hear the words._

_Alibaba, however, did hear them, just fine in fact. His eyes expanded. “Me?”_

_“You.”_

_“I-I don’t understand.”_

_Sinbad shook his head. “Whoever you’re with now? They don’t know what’s what. Remember what you first thought coming here?”_

_He did._

_“You’d be better staying away. Don’t know what you’re getting yourself into.”_

_That made sense. And yet . ._

_“There might still be a ring here, though”, he mumbled. “Could’ve just gotten wrong information.”_

_Those gold eyes narrowed. “So?”_

_He bit his lip. “Can I think about it?”_

_“No.”_

_Ah._

_Well, that left him with options. And by that he meant none. So he closed his eyes, and sucked a deep breath in. And waited. Then he cocked one eye open, saw Sinbad staring at him curiously. Both eyes opened, then lidded. “Are you going to hit me or . . ?”_

_“What?” Sinbad shook his head. “Kid, why would I do that? I’m trying to offer you a job.”_

_“Payment is limited”, Yamuraiha chimed in, a little unhappily, but still compliant._

_“You . . really want me here?”_

_He nodded._

_His lip was going to bleed with the amount of chewing his teeth were doing on it. He thought for a few minutes. Thought about school, about the struggles of high school. Thought about what he had and didn’t have. Thought about who he semi-worked for now._

_Sinbad put out his hand._

_It didn’t take long for him to grab it._

-

Graduation.

He didn’t know what to think.

Things were so confusing between him and Sinbad and Ja’far.

Pisti was his friend. Pisti was Ja’far’s friend as well. Alibaba wasn’t so sure Ja’far was his friend.

It was all just a mess.

And he had to go and buy cheap paper, because he had given all his money to Morgiana. Not that he regretted it. That girl was going to do great things. The money from him was a start to that.

He jingled the key into the lock. His house was small, on a small suburb. Nothing much to it. He had grass. Somewhat.

The bag with the cheap paper dropped to the ground, both hands working the key into the lock. It wasn’t going in too well. Which was weird. Usually it went in too well. Maybe his luck was up.

But, right as he thought that, the lock loosened up, key slipping in and turning like a charm. He sighed, leaned his head against it for a moment. Then he opened it.

The lights were on. Probably normal, he was a very forgetful person. Though, once he entered the living room, he saw that is was, in fact, not normal.

His mouth dropped. Eyes locked on the person in front of him. Said person smirked at him, leaning a chin on an open palm.

“Cassim?”

“Hello, Alibaba”, Cassim said.

Quick footsteps sounded behind him. He turned, but too late, an object slammed into his head.

He went down instantly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and so a couple more mini-plots start to unfold. hope you enjoyed this chapter!


	4. Chapter 4

He made a ninety.

It was good. Great, actually. It was an A from one of Ja’far’s hardest professors, yet he was treating it like he had failed.

“It’s ten point”, Ja’far said, pointing a finger at Sin. “It’s things I didn’t know.”

Aladdin was having none of it. “But you do know them.”

“Aladdin is right. You know all this stuff.” Sinbad pulled a hand through his hair. “This is ridiculous.”

“I didn’t know it right then, okay? It matters. It’s someone’s life in my hands, Sin!” At that he threw his arms up. “You know what? I can’t deal with this right now.” His feet carried him to the door. “I’m going out.”

Aladdin flinched slightly as the door closed, not quiet at all. “Is he . . ?”

 _Why can’t you see that you are amazing? Why? I will never understand._ His hand landed atop blue hair, rubbing it slightly. “He’ll be fine”, he said softly. “You know how he is. He’s just stressed.”

Aladdin turned big eyes towards him. “But I thought school was over now.”

“It is, but sometimes school can be easier than full-time careers. He’s worried he’s not good enough, which is-”

“Ridiculous!”

“Exactly.” A small smile wound upon his face. “Yeah. Exactly. He’ll be fine.” _He_ will _be_.

 

-

_There was a point where he would consider taking them off._

_For example, when the professor’s room was really fucking hot for some reason in the middle of August heat. And you were wearing a long-sleeved shirt. Yeah, it might have been nice to take them off for the day, to at least roll the sleeves up._

_But no._

_Why would he do that._

_Ja’far sighed and stepped through the threshold, lifting his head up just a bit, accepting this was going to be the worst two hours of his life. His feet had barely crossed when he felt weights hit the back, making him jump forward a bit. He caught himself with a bit of ease, letting go of the breath he had been holding for some reason._

_When he looked back, he saw the guy behind him running a hand through his hair, a sheepish smile on his face._

_“Whoops. Sorry about that”, he laughed off. Eyelids opened to reveal amber orbs, looking him over, widening just a bit where Ja’far’s own narrowed the slightest._

_He turned away. “It’s fine.”_

_It was his own fault for taking too long. Plus, as he noticed the professor come in as soon as he was seated, he realized the guy had probably been in a rush anyways. His fault._

_But, as time ticked away, he caught on to something else._

_The guy from earlier was staring at him._

 

_It was little flicks. He’d glance over and the guy would look away. Ja’far didn’t know how he did it and managed to keep writing. Maybe it was just scribbles. Maybe he was one of those extreme multi-taskers._

_He felt unnerved. What was so special about him that he had the attention of one person over anyone ever in the room? As time went on, he felt himself sliding down further in his chair._

_When the two hours were up, he let his eyes drop down to the pages in front of him, relaxing arms in the baggy sleeves they resided in while everyone filed away. A sigh drifted from his lips._

_A_ thump _to his left made him glance over, do a double take when he realized who it was._

_“Hi!”_

_It was chipper. The longer he looked, the more he realized everything about him screamed ‘chipper’. A hand drifted through long hair, just like it had earlier. Ja’far forced his eyes back down, staring into the amber ones with ease. He was never one to go against a staring contest. Had never lost, actually._

_“Did . . you need something”, he asked, carefully sliding one arm from the tabletop to his side._

_The guy shook his head. “No, not really. Just wanted to say hi. I’m Sinbad, by the way.”_

_His smile covered the whole lower portion of his face. Ja’far didn’t know to think it creepy or enlightening. He supposed it could be both._

_As the silence stretched for a few moments, he realized this guy -Sinbad- was waiting for him to say something. His other arm reached to flip his notebook shut. “I . . .m Ja’far.” He pushed his chair back, fingering the spirals in his book, the other hand reaching to loop around a backpack strap. “Nice to meet you, I guess.”_

_Sinbad nodded, and then his phone buzzed. How would he know? He pulled it out right after, scanning the screen for a mere second before sliding it away, raising a hand in a motionless wave. “Well, bye then!”_

_He hurried toward the door, Ja’far hanging back for another moment._

_That had happened._

 

-

_The wires dug into his forearms, lacerations already visibly marked in his mind. He itched to take them off._

Nope. You promised. Another semester means another round of full-time wearing them in public. You promised.

_Granted, that promise was to himself. But that was the deal. Another shot at Brad meant wearing the damn things a lot more. Even if it meant wearing jackets and sweaters and long-sleeved shirts in hundred-degree weather and sometimes hundred-degree classrooms._

_Fortunately, his next class was in a semi-decent room, temperature-wise._

_He took a seat somewhere off to the middle and leaned his head back. It had been a long day. It had also been a very good, informative day. He felt like this semester -minus the wires- was going to be good. Maybe he’d come back for another. Finish out his sophomore year. That might be nice._

_Near the back of the room, a few students erupted into laughter. Head still back, eyes slightly closed, his only response was to purse his lips. Then he heard a voice through the laughter. That snapped him out of it._

_Ah._

_It was that guy again. With the long, purple hair. He’d already forgotten his name. S-something. Possibly. With a small glance, he was quick to face the front, sliding far down into his seat. He really didn’t feel like being stared down a second time. Not when the day was almost over._

_   
_

_-_

_“Stupid things”, he huffed, shoving his hands up into his sleeves to pull taut some of the coils wrapped around small arms. It really didn’t do anything to help. Probably made it worse, if anything._

_It was nine and late and he still had to get home and do things other than school stuff like_ take the stupid wires off _and something about feeding a cat. Ja’far didn’t have a cat. It was an excuse he had told an upperclassman who insisted he was a freshman and that orientation things and shit were the other way he was going._

_It got too dark in this city at nine. You’d think living in a heavily-populated area, there’d be lots of, say, street lights. But no. None of that._

_Technically he was still on campus. Sometimes lights shut off early. He had learned that plenty last year, taking back routes home, one hand always clutching the ends of wires wrapped to the corresponding arm._

_He let out another huff, getting off the grass to walk on the concrete path, the hollow spaces between buildings clearly accessible. Not that he would use them. Again._

_It was actually a shame, that he was so lost in mundane thoughts that he didn’t notice. He always prided himself for being aware of his surroundings, but when a shadow reached out of an empty space between buildings, he was late to react._

_A thin, long-bladed knife slashed into the fabric of one of Ja’far’s sleeves, cutting cleanly through. That’s how long it took him to realize what was going on._

_Once he had that down, he went into action. Twisting his body, reaching out to grasp the wrist with the weapon, squeezing until the clang of metal was barely heard over the sound of the same wrist being slammed into the brick wall._

_His other hand, moving at the same time, had reached inside the other sleeve, detaching one of his tri-pointed blades  from the confines of red wires. The same hand pinned to the wall was now pinned twice as he stabbed his blade through his attacker’s thumb, right below the nail, pinning it there._

_A hiss of breath, an intake through gritted teeth, was heard directly after._

That’s why you wear your wires.

_“Okay okay. Jesus. You got . . me.”_

_He felt his heart thud. He knew that voice. How many times had he heard it that same day? Clearly the other had caught sight of him as well._

_“Ja’far?”_

_“You’re the guy in my economics class.”_

_He tipped his head, those golden eyes expanding slightly. “Really, I have you for that too? I only knew about English.”_

_Ah. He caught the underlying meaning there. If his hands weren’t already occupied, one of them would be against the entirety of his face. So he_ had _been the only one to notice the other’s presence in their second shared class. He barely contained the huge sigh lingering behind closed lips._

_He bit his lip instead, deciding quickly his plan of action. His grip on the boy’s wrist tightened. “Want to tell me what that was all about?”_

_“Shit. Sorry. I-I meant it for someone else.”_

_“You wanted to stab someone else with a knife?”_

_“Yes. No! God I don’t know. I just didn’t-I’m sorry.” Another wince followed his words._

_Ja’far jerked his blade out, grip still tightened around it, even as he let that hand drop to his side. His eyes narrowed in both frustration and annoyance, but his gaze was turned downward, not really looking at anything. His grip around the guy’s wrist went slack, allowing him to jerk it to his chest._

_“Damn. You really know what you’re doing. This hurts like a bitch.”_

_“Yeah, it’s kinda supposed to.”_

_“Guess that’s what I get for attacking you.”_

_He sighed. “Listen. Just don’t try that with anyone. Okay? There are a lot worse people out there than me.”_

_One of those golden eyes opened a bit more, the brow above it rising as well. “Are you saying you’re a bad person?”_

_He let his hand slide from the wall. “No. Not at all.” Jesus. He was just getting back into the swing of things. Just his luck, that something like this happened._

_“You forgot, didn’t you?”_

_“What?”_

_“My name. My name is Sinbad.”_

_He looked up, seeing the grin on the other’s face the first time that night. “Oh. Okay. Hi again.”_

_Hi, I’m the idiot that just stabbed you, by the way did I mention I’m terrible at names?_

_Sinbad’s eyes flicked down to his hand, then back up to him. “Don’t mean to cut the conversation short, but I should probably go to the hospital now.”_

_The only way to describe how his face reacted was stricken. He reached up with both hands, the blade hanging loosely close to his elbow, stuck both to his forehead. “Oh God. Don’t-Don’t go to a hospital. What are you gonna tell them? Huh? ‘Oh, how did I get this, you ask? Funny story, one of the new sophomores at Brad stabbed me.’ How do you think that will go over? Just . .”_

_His hands went down to his eyes, palms going over them with ease. He paces for a few steps, trying to make up his mind. But did he really have any other choice? No. No he didn’t._

_“Just come to my place”, he blurted out. “I have supplies, it’ll be free, we can leave all of this behind us.”_

_Now both eyebrows were raised, golden eyes glimmering with amusement. “Sure I’m not going back for you to finish me off?”_

_He deadpanned. “Okay you have a hole in your finger this is no time for joking. Also if I wanted you dead you would have been dead three minutes ago.”_

_Sinbad shrugged, that lax grin spreading across his face once more. “Sure, then. I accept your offer.”_

 

-

Why did he walk out?

It was selfish. Still so, for him to be on the side of the car, sitting against a tire with his knees to his forehead.

He hadn’t meant for it to go that way. He was just scared, and confused.

There weren’t tests in the real world, weren’t any multiple-choice answers. He either knew something or he didn’t, in all the chaos of an ambulance scenario, and if he didn’t, a loss of life could potentially be his fault.

That was his last test before he graduated, before they sent him off, said ‘yes, you can go and do this job for the rest of your life now.’ And he missed ten percent of it. What did that say about him?

Probably that he hadn’t slept decently in a few days. Another stupid mistake. Even if it was just a couple hours, he should’ve given himself a break, a time to recharge. So he could actually retain the information.

A gush of wind came past, and he shivered, wrapping his arms around his legs. He didn’t want to go back in just yet. He didn’t feel like he deserved it.

Not even as a fat raindrop landed on his head.

He was graduating in five days. Four, after today. But was he ready?

The rain turned from sporadic drops to lightning things, coming down over everything, including him. He sniffled, face still buried in clothes. Droplets slid down his hair, down his face.

Sometimes he just wished people would understand. He couldn’t do everything himself. Hell, he couldn’t even drag himself out of the ra-

Before that thought finished, the rain stopped.

He lifted his head slightly, grey eyes peeking out from a sopping line of white hair. In front of him, Sinbad stood before a backdrop of dark orange, the umbrella he was carrying.

A small smile turned into a disbelieving laugh as Sinbad caught sight of those dark orbs. He shook his head. “I wasn’t”, he began. “The rain started, and I looked out and thought ‘no, Ja’far is smarter than that. He wouldn’t be out there.’” He crouched down before him and Ja’far put his forehead back to his knees.

It didn’t stop Sin from dusting away his bangs, pressing a light kiss where they had been.

“I’m glad I came to check, just to make sure”, he whispered.

“Sorry.”

“Don’t be.”

“It’s cold.”

At this, Sinbad burst into full-on laughter, rocking back on his heels. “Let’s fix that”, he said once he regained a bit of composure. He stood up and reached a hand out to the other, who lifted his head at the movement, took it with slight hesitance, let himself be pulled up.

“You’re soaked”, Sin sighed.

“I noticed.”

It got a bit better inside. Warmer air. No wind. Aladdin wasn’t in the main room, which was weird. Sin said he was studying. The umbrella went up. He felt like leaning against the door before remembering how wet he was.

A towel landed on his head, hands working into it to dry off the majority of his hair. He tipped his chin down a bit.

The cloth was wrapped around his shoulders, his torso, so that when Sin pulled him closer, he was only getting himself a little damp. Ja’far found himself resting his forehead on Sin’s shoulder.

“It’s okay”, Sinbad murmured. “Don’t even think about it anymore. Think about other things.”

“There isn’t anything else at the moment”, he mumbled.

“What about Morgiana? Or . .” He hesitated for a brief moment. “I spoke to Alibaba, at her party.”

“Oh?” He meant it as a question, but it came out as a huff of breath.

“So he’s . . back . .”

“I saw him. Didn’t know you spoke with him.”

“Did you? It was good, for you to avoid him.”

A small snort cut the words off. “Pretty sure it was the other way around. Must’ve been glaring at something every time he turned to look at me, because he went out of his way to not run into me.”

“I didn’t know his stay with you was that bad.”

“Whose stay?”

Sinbad leaned back a bit to better turn and face the room’s newest occupant. When he did, it revealed Ja’far from behind him. Aladdin’s eyes lit up.

“You’re back! I knew you’d be back.”

A small smile painted itself upon his face. “I would never leave forever. Promise.”

Aladdin nodded vigorously. “Good. Are you talking about Alibaba? Is he coming over again?”

Sinbad shook his head. “No, he isn’t.”

“Awww. It was so much fun having him over too!” A frown made its way to Aladdin’s face. “But you both did fight a lot when he was . .” He twiddled his thumbs. “Maybe I like it better now than back when he was here.”

“Do you like Alibaba”, Ja’far suddenly asked.

Aladdin bobbed his head up and down. “Yeah, a whole lot!”

“Then you should ask him to come over sometime.”

Sinbad jerked a bit beside him, eyes lifting in surprise.

“Oh?” Aladdin tipped his head. “Really?”

“You can call him now, if you’d like.”

“You have his number”, Sinbad asked in a mutter.

Ja’far nodded to him. “Got it from Masrur. Will you get my phone? Come here, Aladdin.”

Begrudgingly, Sinbad left the room to retrieve the device. Aladdin came to stand before him, hands twitching in nervousness.

“You’re wet”, he said, observing the dripping clothes.

Ja’far shook his head and bent down, pressing the towel more tightly around him. “I’m sorry I made you worry”, he said softly. “I was making myself worry. I’ll try and be better about not doing that.”

Aladdin nodded to him, his eyes glancing up to meet his briefly. “I-” he broke off, pressing trembling lips together a second before he jumped forward, wrapping thin arms around Ja’far. He breathed roughly through his nose, sorting his words. Although his head was over Ja’far’s shoulders, he could almost feel him wearing that gentle smile, patiently waiting for him to speak.

“Don’t . .”, he finally said. “Give up before you even start. That’s not like you.”

It felt like a slap to the face. This was his twelve-year-old son, telling him this. Aladdin must have gone through more than he thought, these past couple weeks, for him to be saying stuff like that.

He slowly threaded his arms out of the towel, pulling up the soaked sleeves a few inches, and then wrapped them both around Aladdin’s back, pressing him closer.

“I’m sorry”, he whispered. “I’m sorry.”

 

-

_Sinbad sat with him now in English class._

_He sat and listened, sometimes turned to watch Ja’far scribble down notes. Although he was ignored the whole time, Ja’far didn’t think he minded much. If anything, he wished he could be ignored. His upper body was covered in a light jacket today, and even though the temperature was only supposed to reach the mid-eighties, the lowest that week, sweat still began to bead on his forehead._

_At least he wasn’t getting sunburnt._

_Sinbad sat beside him in Economics too. Ja’far tuned out the voices of his friends teasing him in the back. Sinbad didn’t speak to him, which was fine. He sat and listened, while Ja’far took notes._

_The end of the day was the hardest. He had to go straight home, a taller, purple-haired “friend” -Sinbad had called him his friend, but he wasn’t so sure just yet- trailing right behind him. A small door swung open, Ja’far locking it right after both of them were inside. He immediately went off to find the high-strength pain medicine. “How is it”, he called back into the main room._

_“Sore”, Sinbad called back. Sore, he supposed, could have been worse, for a hole in his finger. If he had to be stabbed by anyone, he was lucky it was Ja’far. He didn’t know the first thing about medicine, but the other clearly knew a lot._

_Ja’far came back in a dark tank top, a paper cup of water in his hands. He passed it along to Sinbad, handing him two small pills to take with it._

_Sinbad obediently took both. It might have been a mental thing, but he swore he already felt somewhat better by the time he finished sucking down the water._

_His arms had deep imprints in them today. He supposed it was from all the strenuous notetaking he’d had to do that day. His wires hung loosely from the back of his jeans, via his refusal to both not wear them and still want them near._

_Sinbad noticed it too. The pale skin looked like his wrist after he’d left a tight hair tie on it for too long. The grooves snaked all over Ja’far’s arms, looking more painful the longer he stared at them. And he had plenty of time to stare._

_It took ten minutes before Ja’far even attempted to undo the bandages on Sinbad’s finger, insisting there be enough time to let the numbing agent set. He tugged each piece off slowly, eventually reaching over to flick on a light when the sun’s own became too little for his liking._

_Once they were all off, and thrown away, he began to chew on his lower lip. The man’s thumb was still a sickly sight. He knew without looking that Sinbad was just staring at his arms, at the marks the wires had left for the day, instead of his own injury. It had been like this for the past few days._

_It looked like the tissues were actually attempting to reconnect today, which made him nervous. He wanted to put more of the mixture he’d whipped up inside of the hole, but to do that, he’d have to take some of the old out, risking tearing anything that was slowly beginning to heal._

_His own fingers, which had been tight around Sinbad’s hand, fell to his side. “Take a seat”, he murmured. “I’ll be back.”_

_He was back, with bandages and a small bowl wrapped in wax paper sealing. Sinbad once again gave him his hand, thumb outstretched as much as he could manage. Carefully, Ja’far spread some paste all around the wound, even coating the old with it, deciding it wasn’t worth the risk to pick it out._

_The bandages went back on, slowly but securely, and when they both stood up, he once again went off, this time to grab a stack of papers -his notes from today, from all the classes he and Sinbad shared._

_“Thank you”, Sinbad said, watching him come back._

_“Don’t thank me. I’m the one who inflicted this onto you.”_

_His laugh was only a couple seconds, but it filled the small space between them, lingering like a forever echo. “While that might be true”, he began. “You’ve still taken it upon yourself to patch me up, make sure I’m good.”_

_“I just don’t want to have anything held over me”, Ja’far replied, handing him the stack of copied notes._

_“I could almost say the same. Remember, I’m the one who attacked you first.”_

_“I don’t have a wound, though.”_

_“If you feel so bad, you should answer a question of mine.”_

_Ja’far tensed in his position, eyes flicking over to meet golden ones, trying to read them. “Perhaps”, he answered, voice even, and flat._

_“Why do you wear those weapons”, Sinbad asked him, the tone more of an accusation than a question._

_He pressed his lips together, eyes still locked onto the other’s in a staredown. “Protection”, he finally said, voice slow and hesitant._

_“From who?”_

_“People like you.” It was a simple lie, said quickly, almost like he knew what Sinbad’s next words would be. He kept his face straight. In all honesty, the lie couldn’t have been further from the truth. He could care less about ordinary people._

_He bought it, though. Turned his face away, a sheepish smile slowly forming. “Ah. Sorry.”_

_Ja’far crossed his arms over his chest. “I keep telling you. Don’t apologize.”_

_“But I just-” He paused, catching sight of criss-cross marks upon Ja’far’s shoulders._

_Damn. He dropped one arm, raising the other to run through his hair. Concealing all the scars. “It’s getting late”, he muttered._

_Sinbad caught on. Stood up. Grabbed his bag. “See you tomorrow, then”, he called on his way out._

_The door shut and Ja’far stepped over quickly to lock it, pressing a shoulder to the coolness and sliding down a bit._

_He looked down at his hands, curling his fingers slightly. There were scars everywhere. And there always would be. His hands clenched into themselves when they started shaking. Ja’far shook his head, dismissed the thought. Standing, he checked to make sure the door was locked._

_ Then he tore the wires from their spot on him, quickly wrapping them back on his arms. _

_-_

He recognized the voice at the end as his. It was short, not exactly saying to leave a message, but it was Alibaba’s voice.

Aladdin hit the end button, listening to the dial tone for a few moments before shutting the phone off. His feet led him to his parent’s room, peeking his head through the door. Sinbad sat at the foot of the bed. “He didn’t answer.”

Aladdin’s voice. Sinbad opened his eyes, not fully letting them adjust before speaking. He’d been sitting in the dark room for several minutes now, trying to relax, to somewhat meditate, while Ja’far took a shower. One with hot water to wash off the cold he had endured outside. “Oh? That’s a bit unusual.”

He stepped further into the room. “Yeahh. But, uh, I might just try again tomorrow.”

“Works for me.”

It was unusual, that he hadn’t answered. Alibaba always seemed to pick up before the first ring was even over. Aladdin felt like he was being stabbed in the gut every time a full one came and went with no answer.

He wondered, faintly, if everything was okay.

-

There was a stained ceiling above him.

That was the first thing he noticed when he came to. The second was that his body felt unbelievably heavy. He couldn’t wiggle his fingers, his toes. His breathing was normal, but his lips felt huge. There was something hard pressing into his back.

A slow clapping caught his attention. It took some effort, but he managed to twist his head to face the noise.

The hands were dark, and just as he caught sight of them, they clashed together, stuck there like glue. Moments later, they unlatched, sliding down to rest upon crossed knees. Alibaba looked up once more to a low rumble of a laugh.

Dark eyes captured his, held them there. He almost didn’t want to believe it. Almost, but it was so undoubtedly, unshakably him that it hurt.

“You’ve lost your touch, Alibaba.”

“Cassim”, he gasped out. “Cassim, you’re alive!”

Dark lips twisted into a frown. “I was never dead. But, now, I suppose you could say that I’m back.” The frown transformed into a grin, sly as can be, showing a bit of teeth. “And here you are! How’s your head?”

That was right. He faintly remembered being hit with . . something. By someone. It was all pretty much a blur. Except for seeing Cassim, alive, sitting on his couch. That had been crystal clear.

“I’m all numb”, he explained.

Cassim nodded. “Good, then the morphine has taken effect. Probably gave you a bit much, though. Sorry about that.” He had said sorry, but his words ended with a breathy laugh, soft enough to go undetected. Truthfully, he wasn’t sorry at all. The more the better. It had been some time since he had seen Alibaba. Cassim didn’t know if he would put up a struggle or not. The longer he watched, though, the more he was sure that possibility was nonexistent.

Alibaba calmed the one tense muscle he had been able to tense up, eyes lidding softly. “It’s okay”, he said. “I’m okay.” His eyes closed. “Where are we, anyway?”

“That place, with . . . _those_ people.”

His tone made his eyes snap open, hazel orbs looking around as frantically as they could manage. “W-What”, he sputtered. “Here? Why here? Do you even know what happened, when you die-disappeared?” A deep shudder ran through his body, thoughts wandering to different possibilities. “They could kill me, Cassim.”

“But they won’t.” The grin widened. “Guess I forgot to mention it, but I’m the new leader.” He stood, taking a few steps closer to Alibaba.

“And things are about to change around here.”

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so really quick! yes, the backstory from chapter three will be continued. that chapter was focused around alibaba, and this one was more around sinja, but that one will progress more to give you all more insight. the sinja backstory will continue as well. next chapter is more around everyone introduced so far, even in mentions, but actually has very little present scenes. 
> 
> i hope everyone's enjoying this so far! this is my first attempt at a multi-chapter magi fic so it probably won't be the best thing i've ever written for magi. hopefully i will have read 280 -and possibly 281?- before i'm done writing the next chapter. (haven't even started actually, aha)
> 
> thank you if you've read so far! i'd love to hear about what people like about it! like character adaptations and scenes, etc.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SO just to clear up any confusion, here is the generic order of the flashbacks from oldest-more recent
> 
> -hakuryuu and morgiana flashback 1 
> 
> -ren house fire and hakuei aftermath flashbacks
> 
> -hakuryuu and morgiana flashback 2
> 
> *Both of these happen simultaneously   
> -alibaba and kougyoku flashbacks  
> -alibaba and sinbad and yamuraiha past events
> 
> -ja'far and sinbad past events (note that all have happened in order from first meeting onward)
> 
> -sinja w/aladdin + alibaba flashbacks
> 
> this one is mostly past stuff, but it sets off one of the main plots at the end. Hope you enjoy it!

They all sat and watched. And did all of the formalities. And when his name popped up onto the screen, they broke from the norm. They stood from their seats, shouting his name and beating their hands together in tremendous claps, some stomping their feet, others laughing at how he dipped his head as he heard it all walking across the stage.

The lights had long since dimmed. It had been Yamuraiha who had quieted everyone down, made them all sit and be still. It was harder for some, like Mystras and Pisti, who slightly continued to squirm around in their chairs. They had been the first to jump up when he appeared on the stage.

Others, like Drakon and Hakuei, were the perfect example of etiquette. Still, when they caught sight of the silver hair, that example broke down in the midst of their frantic pawing at the person beside them, inhumanely loud noises coming from their mouths.

It was needless to say that everyone was excited.

When it was all over, when a new name appeared, they once again took a seat, but just barely. Huge smiles were plastered onto their faces. The excitement was noticeable to anyone passing by, glancing their way. Some didn’t end up back into chairs. Aladdin was in Sinbad’s lap, his wrists held down a bit to keep from making noise. Surprisingly to all, Masrur was halfway in Morgiana’s seat, his full torso over the handle separating the two. Her contagious smile clearly announced her non-annoyance, a hand on his shoulder erasing it completely. He could hardly contain himself, and Morgiana was somewhat thrilled by it.

Finally, it all ended, the overhead lights flickering back on. Sinbad was the first to stand, Aladdin now on his shoulders, giggling as he was lifted into the air. Spartos held both his brother and girlfriend from running off into the unknown of the building to search for the person they all wanted to see. Alibaba stood off to the side slightly near Hakuei and Sharrkan, a nervous smile on his face; he truly was happy for Ja’far.

When a text came from the graduate, predicting a rampage of the crowd and ordering them all outside, Sinbad directed them towards the exit. They presumed to wait for exactly twenty minutes -Pisti kept count- before a single door out of the set opened and a silver-haired fellow slipped out, his head high and his face alight with joy. His descent down the few steps was quite chaotic, meaning, he made it down two before everyone was on him, and his ears were experiencing ear-sensory overload, but he didn’t care; this had to be one of the happiest moments in his life.

In one hand, a framed certificate was held by firm fingers; proof of all the hours, all the effort, all of everything he had put into getting it had paid off.

-

_“Hey.”_

_“Hm?”_

_“Help me understand this physics stuff.”_

_Ja’far paused in his movements, unable to believe he had heard the words correctly._

_It had been a few weeks since the finger-stabbing incident. Sinbad’s finger had been healing up nicely, and it was nearly fixed. Nearly. There may have been an accident where Ja’far was less-than-careful and caused some re-opening, but they didn’t speak of that. They didn’t speak much period. He had explained the herb mixture and how it healed so quickly, once. That was pretty much the length of their conversations, aside from the apologies he kept on refusing to accept. He patched up Sinbad’s finger, gave him class notes, and then he was off._

_But not today._

_Some of the papers were in his good hand, others on the floor, near his feet. He was still sitting, making no notion to leave._

_Ja’far moved his head slightly to lock his grey eyes into amber ones. He stayed like that for a few moments before getting unnerved and glancing away. (Since when did he get so antsy? He swore Sinbad had some attention-grasping power; never in his life had he felt so compelled to look at a person when being spoken to.) “Don’t you have friends for that”, he muttered._

_“Uh, well . . Not really.” Sinbad pressed the palm of his half-broken hand to his forehead, gushing slightly. “They all took it a few years ago and . . didn’t bother to remember much.” An understatement. While he was out of contact, the small circle had both taken and resented the class. Upon coming back to the real world, he heard stories about a few of them having a bonfire, essentially roasting everything from that class, that year, that didn’t apply to their future. Others had sold their books, their notes, to the incoming class. Smart. Yet not smart enough to bother to help him with all of it._

_His hands had been sitting atop a few books on a nightstand closer to the kitchen doorway. He let them slide down to rest at his side, his jaw slightly falling slack. “Unbelieveable”, he sputtered, snapping his lips shut after. “Are you good for anything?”_

_“I am excellent at reading people.” He said this with a wink. At Ja’far’s eye roll, he laughed, shaking his head. “Don’t worry, you passed that test long ago.”_

_“Oh have I?”_

_It was lowly said, but Sinbad caught it. The best he could manage, he looped his arms around the back of his head, tipping back in his seat. “Yup! Now how about helping me with physics?”_

_His sigh was thick and deep, a sign of defeat. “I suppose if that’s the only way to get rid of you.”_

_A hand was pressed to Sinbad’s heart. “Oh, I’m hurt. If you want me to leave, all you have to do is say so.” He tipped his lips in a frown. “Hey, aren’t you hot in that?”_

_Ja’far glanced down at his attire. Simple sweats and the long-sleeved tee he had been wearing that day. It was a bit uncomfortable, considering the weather that day, but he had resigned himself to not show much skin if necessary when his injured companion was around. He hadn’t since that one day, when the questions of his scars had been asked. “No.”_

_Sinbad doubted that, but didn’t press the issue further._

_They both looked away, stayed silent, for a few moments. Then Sinbad spoke up._

_“Why are you even in physics?”_

_“It’s a basic . .”_

_“Yeah, but you seem more like the type to go into anatomy, considering all you know about-” he flung his finger around in the air, “this stuff. Are you even any good at physics?”_

_He hadn’t ever really thought about it. School was kind of like a safety block at first, but it had become something both challenging and enjoyable. He didn’t really know that much about medicines or the human body, just the things that had kept him alive. If he truly had a chance to wander about, freely, would he venture along that path?_

_Sinbad’s next question snapped him out of the thoughts. With a huff, he folded his arms across his chest. “Fine. I’ll help you. If only to prove your doubts wrong.”_

_That sly grin made another appearance, balancing just on top of hunched shoulders, Sinbad sliding further into the seat. “Works for me.”  
_

-

_“Kougyoku!”_

_She had been tying her hair up, but at the sound of the shout, her hands faltered in surprise, her hair slipping from her grasp. With a frustrated growl, she turned towards her window, taking a few steps over and gawking at what she saw._

_Alibaba was outside. In a tree. He caught sight of her and raised a hand in a wave._

_Her hands worked quickly to unlock the frame, raising it up with a loud_ clack _and leaning out of it. “What the f-” She stopped her yelling, remembering there were still people in the house that could probably hear her. “What are you_ doing _here?”_

_“I came to see you, of course!”_

_She pointed downwards. “On the ground. Now. I’ll be outside in a minute.” With that, she slammed the window back shut with one hand, the other reaching up to grasp at the band that held some of her hair on top of her head, pulling it out and letting the red mess fall around her frame._

_She didn’t have shoes, but her footsteps were loud, stomping things._

_When the door opened, Alibaba was right there. She pursed her lips and stepped out, shutting the door behind her. No sooner had it shut that Alibaba pulled her up into a hug, spinning around. In surprise, she let out a small squeak._

_“No seriously, what are you doing here? And what-”_

_Kougyoku paused, catching sight of a patchy line running down the back of his neck. Carefully, she reached a hand to press in the middle of his back, causing him to wince. Her eyes narrowed._

_“Ah, not there-”_

_She had had enough. With the words, he had set her down. She reached out and took his hand, glancing back at the door before pulling him away from it, into the lawn. There, she turned him around and lifted up his shirt._

_“Kougyoku! What are you-?”_

_“What is this?!” She dropped his shirt back down, coming around to face him directly. There were burn marks all down his back -fresh, too, she could tell. Her eyes shone with hurt. “I can’t take this anymore. What aren’t you telling me?”_

_He faltered, the hands he had been about to put on her shoulders dropping to his sides. She was beginning to cry, thick droplets forming around her eyes. He sucked in a breath and closed his eyes, reaching out to pull her to his chest._

_“I got involved with some bad people”, he whispered, voice quiet enough to match the volume of her muted choking weeps. “I left, and they . . didn’t like that. But I’m okay now. I’m here.”_

_She let out a sniffle, fingers tightening around the thick material of his shirt. “Why didn’t you call the police?”_

_“Ah . .” he paused, thinking through his response. “I guess, because I gained some allies in that process. Actually, I’m gonna be a whole lot busier now than ever. But don’t worry! I’ll still come visit you. You’re my dear friend, after all.”_

_She felt herself smiling that ridiculously sweet, small smile. “You know, I think you’re my only friend. Which is kinda sad, yes. But that’s why I worry when you’re not around for awhile.” She stepped back, took a deep breath in, deep breath out. Her eyes opened to gaze at the ground, hardened by the chill that had enveloped the city in the past couple weeks. “I’m sorry, that probably sounds ridiculous-”_

_He had stepped forward, hands on her shoulders. Without thinking, he had pressed his lips to hers, left them there. When he pulled away, he laid his chin on top of her head. For a minute, none of them spoke, listening to the two heartbeats in the stillness instead._

_“It’s not ridiculous”, he breathed. “And you open yourself up so much, and I’ve been so closed off, and I want it to stop too. I want . . . .” He paused, a smile forming on his face. “I don’t think you have a friend anymore.”_

_She was blushing. That much was clear. But it had felt . . nice. And he wasn’t looking at her. And even though she wanted so badly to grasp her long curtain of hair and cover her face and slowly back away, back into the house, back into her room where no one could see her, she chose instead to listen to his last sentence and felt herself mentally nodding at his words. She closed her eyes as she opened her mouth._

_“O-Okay . .”  
_

-

_“Is it good?”_

_“Looks good to me.”_

_That was all it took. Ja’far backed away just as Sinbad sprang up, taking time to flex his hand and pick up various objects. He even cupped it with his other hand, moved like he was swinging a baseball bat. A few minutes later, he was finally convinced, and he looked back to him with an expression that could only be described as gratitude._

_“At this point I don’t care what you say or what you did or anything”, he began. “Thank you. I mean that.”_

_Ja’far sighed, lifting up one hand to rub it against the back of his head. Some people never learn. “You’re welcome, I guess.”_

_“This calls for a celebration”, he announced, throwing both arms above his head. “What do you wanna do?”_

_“Honestly?” He leaned against the doorframe to the kitchen. “Sleep.”_ But without fear, or worry. Without the sudden feeling that the door is unlocked, that people are in here that shouldn’t be, that I’m not about to be brutally killed or tortured or worse.

_Sinbad tipped his head. “That’s a bit unusual. But I suppose it can be arranged.”_

_He snorted, bouncing off the wall, his arms still crossed. “Funny. Get out.”_

_“Aw. That hurts.”_

_“Fine. Do whatever you want.” He turned on his heels. “I’m taking a shower. Just, if you’re still here when I’m out, try not to make too much noise.” He was at the only other door in the three-room living area -he didn’t dare call it an apartment; they would find him in one of those- at the end of his words. With a small sigh, he opened it and slipped inside. He really was tired.  
_

-

_When he re-entered the main room, it was dark.  Sinbad, he supposed, had shut the lights off before leaving. How thoughtful._

_His wires were still hanging out of his pants; he grasped one of them as he padded across the floor. Things had gotten awkward, and he wasn’t sure what locking the door would have implied for his visitor earlier. Now, though, he was starting to regret that. He was gone, what, ten minutes? How much time had passed since Sinbad had left? How long had the door been-_

_He froze, one hand on the locks, realizing they were, in fact, locked._

_A shifting made him throw his head backwards, looping a wire up to catch the blade on the end._

_“Ja’far?”_

_With a frustrated sigh he dropped the weapon, slightly sagging against the door. “Sinbad. You scared me. What are you still doing here?”_

_“You didn’t tell me to leave.”_

_He did, specifically, remember his mention for him to leave, but he decided to drop it. The door was locked. No one was there. Everything was fine. For the moment. His eyes briefly closed. In truth, he was exhausted. This whole month had been exhausting. Everything that he had been doing since leaving had been exhausting. He just wanted it to stop._

_His feet led him past the couch on his way to his room. “Goodnight”, he said with little effort. It was only afterwards that he was aware of the slight tugging on his wires._

_In seconds he was thrown backwards, hitting the couch and immediately feeling a weight settle above him. The clatter of his blades on the ground only added to his anxiety; his eyes narrowed. “You realize I could intentionally stab you, right?”_

_Sinbad chuckled above him. “You intentionally stabbed me the first time.”_

_“True. But I could do it again, and_ then _not offer to heal you.” As he said it, one hand snaked towards the ground._

_Before much could happen, hands slammed down above his shoulders, shocking him enough to not have a reaction._

_“You could. But I think it would be much more fun to kiss me instead.”_

_He sputtered. “What?”_

_That grin of his was almost audible; he could tell it was there. “You heard me.”_

_“Why would-”_

_Sinbad tapped his forehead against his. “Because I’m good looking, that’s why.”_

_“You’re-” Crazy. That was what he had been about to say. Instead he was interrupted by a pair of lips on his own, effectively silencing him. He could react, but he chose to not, thinking the sooner it was over, the sooner he would leave._

_Sinbad lifted his head up even though he wanted to plant it in the couch beside Ja’far’s. He hadn’t really meant to go that far. With his hand. Now it was sore. Within milliseconds he was on his side, thinking for a moment before risking it and pulling Ja’far towards him._

_It was nice when he got off. It was not when he was dragged upward, flopped against a surly chest. “What are you doing.”_

_“Sleeping”, Sinbad said with a yawn. “That’s what you wanted, right?”_

I think I meant by myself, in the furthest place from the entrance of this place, but by all means, feel free to rip that idea up into a million pieces. _He pursed his lips. Really? Was this really happening?_

_“Goodnight.” He said this and then let his head slop downwards, his weight sagging into the couch, ineffectively pressing Ja’far closer and his first thought was actually-_

_He was warm._

_Strange, but it was true. And he had spent a whole month with the guy; if he had learned anything, it was that Sinbad had a stubborn side. There was probably no way he was getting un-stuck until morning._

_Plus, if someone did break in, wouldn’t it be logical to go for the bigger one first?_

_So with those thoughts, most of them he was labeling logical, he relaxed his tense body. He had been figuratively sleepwalking for a month; wouldn’t it be nice to enjoy some actual sleep?_

_His eyes fell shut, and with a last huff, he let his mind wander into the unknowns of the dream world.  
_

-

_He opened his eyes to a slight, incoherent mumbling. Sadly, as he did so, his arms tightened, silencing the sound. Amber orbs wandered lazily over to where he found himself wrapped up with his charge for the night -and found said charge staring back, grey eyes widening in disbelief._

_He watched as Ja’far jerked back, easily escaping his loose grip, and tumbled to the ground, the table rattling as he did so._

_Sinbad sat up, a confused frown being replaced by a slightly amused smile. Ja’far sat up as well, on the ground, rubbing his head. He had probably hit it on the table, hence the rattling. Sinbad pushed his chin into one of his palms. “Why hello there. You seem surprised.”_

_The blush was immediate, crawling up the pale man’s face relatively swiftly. No sooner had it happened that Ja’far turned around, folding his arms and crisscrossing his legs. “You can get out now.”  
_

-

_He felt great._

_He felt_ fucking great _._

 _And it was all_ his _stupid fault._

_That he was able to actually fall asleep to the point of slightly talking while doing so. That when he awoke he actually felt a split second of comfort, of protection and isn’t that fucking crazy because how quickly had he taken this guy out? It was all crazy and he felt so great and it was so bad._

_He heard Sinbad shifting behind him, knees toying with his back not long after._

_“It’s like four in the morning.”_

_His blushing had calmed down. Why was he even blushing in the first place? What was the point of blushing? What did it do as a bodily function besides make people aware?_

_He found his wires and snatched them up, standing soon after. “I really don’t care. Get out. And lock the door when you leave.”_

_With those words, he swiftly crossed over to his own room, shutting the door louder than the average person._

_There was no way he was sleeping again for an entire week.  
_

-

_Ja’far was reading a book when he walked into English that morning._

_Strange, since he had never pegged him as the reading type, but also really cute as well._

_Maybe it was an excuse to not notice him, or not talk to him, as he took his usual seat beside him. The easy smile was a bit tight on Sinbad’s face, but he pulled out a spiral nonetheless, flipping it open and grabbing a pen right after._

_A hand landed atop his own. He turned to look at Ja’far, face still buried in his book._

_“You hand just got healed up. You should let it rest more before doing such strenuous things”, he said, eyes still on the pages._

_“So what does that mean, exactly?”_

_Ja’far sighed, dropping the book from his face to properly look at him. “I’m trying to imply that I’ll still do the note-taking for the moment.”_

_“Oh? Does this mean I get to come over again?”_

_“No, this means you’re taking pictures with your phone.”_

_Sinbad’s eyes widened as he felt like he was being struck. “Huh?”_

_Ja’far had already picked back up the book, flipping to the next page. **  
**_

-

_They met because he had a really fucking cool pack of crayons, and she only had eight._

_She didn’t even have a green. Their social studies teacher had just given a whole speech about not coloring the land blue, because blue represented water. For a few minutes now, Morgiana had been contemplating going against her words. Unless she wanted to just color the land tan. Perhaps for a beach? Soil? Something?_

_He had them between his legs, under his desk, so that no one would notice. He wasn’t one for attention since the beginning of time, but his family was quite . . flashy. When he first learned that more than twenty four crayons was considered really, really awesome, it didn’t turn out quite so well._

_But she was struggling, and he could tell. She had one of those themed packages, one of browns and blues and what looked like a gold. Her hand fingered with a cerulean, and he screwed up his face, turning to his own map. Their teacher had just said not to. But, then again, what else did she have . . ?_

_She ignored the poke in her side once. When it came a second time, she accepted it wasn’t an accident and moved her head over in that direction. The boy beside her was holding out a green crayon. She raised her eyebrows, and he held his hand further into her bubble. Her own hand reached out and took it, very slowly, as if the boy might change his mind, or accuse her of taking it, or something to that regard. But he didn’t._

_He turned back to his own map, and she turned to hers, and realizing the time, began to hurriedly use the color she had been given._

_In the middle of it all, she caught another bout of movement. Glancing up, she saw another crayon on the corner of her desk -this one, an orange. Pursing her lips, she went back to using the green, but upon finishing, her hand snatched up the orange, hands working at getting it on her paper._

_His smile was a small, quiet thing. Something no one would take notice of. Something that almost didn’t count as a smile. He liked how she colored, darkening the borders and then drawing smooth spirals in the middle to fill up the blank space. His own paper was sloppy, the hues going from really dark to not so dark in each space._

_He found, once, a crayon at the edge of his desk. Just like what he had been doing to her. It went back into the box no one could see, his eyes trying not to wander to look at her._

_When she was finished, she put everything up, including her lame pack of crayons. The bell rang soon after, and she stood, prepared to leave._

_A hand caught at her wrist, making her immobile. Looking back, she saw it was the boy that sat beside her._

_“I think we have the next class together”, he said softly, awkwardly. His hand drifted back to his side._

_Morgiana smiled, nodding and turning to face him, waiting as he adjusted his backpack to walk more comfortably. “Thank you”, she said to him, as they exited the room. “That was . . thoughtful.”_

_“I didn’t mind”, he replied. “I’m Hakuryuu, by the way.”_

_“Morgiana.”_

_“That’s a nice name.”_

_“Oh? You really think so?”_

_“Yeah, absolutely!” He cracked a smile as they walked down the hallway. “I bet it’s easier to pronounce than mine, too.”_

_That was how it began, their small, sometimes very small and awkward and confusing, friendship. The next day, she showed up with his name written in calligraphy in all different hues, like she had grabbed a handful of markers in one hand and wrote it in one motion, to prove to him that his name was easy to both spell and say._

_In the span of their time together, there were errors, but he loved it. And she loved his many crayons. Their friendship worked through him giving her color, and her giving him back something with that color. It was sort of like a metaphor for their life. He brought more emotion to her surface, made her feel more alive. She took that aliveness and gave it back to him threefold, bringing smiles to both their faces._

_They were in the sixth grade.  
_

-

_There was never a knock at his door._

_But there had just been two._

_Ja’far had been on his back in the floor of the living room -if you could even call it that- thinking about what to do about this whole situation he was in. With the knocks, he slowly sat up, legs curling towards the rest of his body. One hand reached over and onto the table, snatching his blades, wires lazily twirling in the air behind them._

_A third knock, this one a bit louder, and he was on his feet, stepping forward with a silence that takes one many years to master. His door was plain, with one of those sliding locks someone with enough force and enough effort could break off. Surely they would have people like that._

_He thrust both blades into a single hand, taking out the lock and twisting the handle with the other. It opened a crack and, upon seeing a large form, he threw one of the blades to his free hand, swinging the door wide open with his foot, hitting the wall with it. He stepped to the center, weapons up near his chest, eyes narrowed and posture tense, ready to square up against whoever they had sent._

_Instead, two seconds later, he found something else outside his door._

_Sinbad, standing there, phone out in front of him. His eyes popped open as soon as the door was practically tackled out of the way, and they only grew when Ja’far stepped forward._

_Said Ja’far froze upon realizing this, paling slightly. They stood in silence for a few brief moments. Then Sinbad dropped the hand holding his phone down to his side, opening his mouth in a deafening laughter._

_Ja’far stayed where he was, waiting. He knew how this might go. Where he drops his guard, relaxed, puts down his weapons, and all the people after him pop out from the sides of his door. No, that wasn’t happening. he wouldn’t let it happen._

_But, he soon realized, there was clearly no need._

_Sinbad went so far as to crouch on the ground, eventually getting on his hands in a halfway-kneel, laughter still going strong._

_It was at this point that Ja’far, fed up with it all, changed his expression for an unamused scowl, not even looking at his unexpected guest anymore. He half-heartedly threw his weapons to the ground, huffing. A moment of thought later, and he was grabbing the edge of the door, swinging it closed in Sinbad’s face -at this point he had bothered to sit up, no longer blocking the entryway._

_There was a couple inches left before he was met with resistance. Seeing as he was still annoyed, and no longer in the mood for any force, he simply brought his arms back to him, Sinbad pushing the door back open just enough to slip through, secure the lock, slide his phone into the folding of his clothes, and turn back around to wrap his arms around Ja’far._

_“Hey. I’m sorry I scared you.”_

_At this point he wasn’t even surprised anymore. He just didn’t physically react to any of it. “It-”_

_“And don’t say that it’s fine, or that it’s okay, or that I don’t need to be apologizing.”_

_“ . . I wasn’t”, he mumbled, when, really, he was. At least, he was about to say the first one._

_Sinbad pulled back and nodded. “Okay. Now that that’s out of the way, there is a reason I’m here.”_

_“I figured there would be.”_

_“I want you to go out with me tonight.” At Ja’far’s stare, he briskly continued. “O-Of course, not just me! Some of my friends will be there too! Just, ahh . .” He tapped a palm to his head. “Come meet them. You’ll have a good time, I promise. Just please come.”_

_“Why should I?”_

_“To meet new people.” He brought out of his hands between them, began ticking off fingers. “To make new friends, to not be here, to have a good time, to . . be with me?”_

_Ja’far snorted. “You make that sound like a good thing.”_

_“Do you not?”_

_He paused, chewed on his lip in thought. “Well, I guess . . . that I don’t have anything better to do.” He sighed just as a smile broke on Sinbad’s face. “What do I have to wear . . ?”_

_“Anything. Though I wouldn’t go in that.”_

_Ja’far briefly flickered his eyes shut. He was in another tank, because it was hot in here today, and some shorts that fell just to his knees. “I’m not that much of an idiot.”_

_“You’re not an idiot at all.”_

_ “Well I let you in, so I must have  _ something _wrong with me.”  
_

-

_It was loud._

_His first thoughts were_ Oh, I’ve let that idiot drag me to a bar. _Not a bar. Thank God._

_He fiddled with the edges of his sleeves. The new shirt he’d thrown on was a big bigger than him, which was slightly good._

_Sinbad had looked at him strangely, when he came out. Ja’far could’ve sworn he would be questioned, but he just turned his back, didn’t say a word about it._

_The wires squeezed into his skin, carving new grooves over the ones he’d made today. There was pain, but there was also a tolerance, and he was more assured to know he could defend himself._

_A lively place with dimmed lights. Not a restaurant, either. Where the hell had he been taken to?_

_“Sinbad?”_

_Ja’far hissed as purple hair whacked him in the face, Sinbad turning his head sharply to pinpoint the sound of the voice. He didn’t seem to notice, raising a hand to the person. “Drakon, hey!”_

_He was led over to a table in the corner, one of those half-booth things separated from the rest of the place by a small wall. There were tons of seats, but only two were occupied._

_Ja’far hung back, feeling a bit skittish of the two. Sinbad knew them, but then again, Sinbad had attacked him once. He wondered, briefly, what these people could do._

_“It is you”, the guy -Drakon, he guessed- pronounced, jumping to his feet. The girl beside him glanced up, hand stirring a straw around in her drink. Ja’far thought her vibrant teal hair spoke for her, but he was proved wrong when she stood up and revealed a, uh, reasonably-sized chest. She grabbed one of Drakon’s shoulders to keep her balance._

_“He’s making me drink water already, Sinbad”, she whined._

_“Shut up. You’d be passed out if it weren’t for me”, he retorted._

_She simply turned her head away, which made her happen to be looking at Ja’far. He moved his eyes away, but she had already noticed. A grin spread across her face._

_“Ahh. New friend, Sinbad?”_

_“Yep!”_

_The idiot even had the audacity to loop his arms around his shoulders as he said it, pulling Ja’far closer to their small group. “This is Ja’far. Ja’far, this is Drakon and Yamuraiha.”_

_Yamuraiha’s grin seemed to grow wider. “Just call me Yam”, she told him, voice slightly off-pitch. At least she wasn’t slurring. Ja’far wasn’t sure he could handle that. “So, what relation do_ you _have to Sinbad?”_

_“Just a friend”, Sinbad popped in before he could answer. “He goes to Brad. He’s even a sophomore, like me!” The last statement was directed towards Drakon, who only sniffed, turned his head slightly._

_“You wouldn’t be a sophomore if you hadn’t gone and screwed up. That goes for you, too”, he told Yamuraiha, shaking her off. She bent down and grabbed the edge of the table for support before ultimately flopping back into the booth._

_“Just a friend”, she mumbled. “Ha! I’ve heard that one before!”_

_The other three also took a seat, Sinbad and Ja’far sitting across to the two, in regular chairs._

_“It’s a card shop”, Sinbad murmured to him._

_“I’m not playing”, he mumbled back._

_ “Good, we don’t play anyways.” _

_“Well you look fucking wasted”, a new voice piped up. “It’s only, what, eight? Nine?”_

_Yam rolled her forehead off the table so that her cheek was in its spot, glaring at the newcomer. “Shut your fucking mouth, Sharrkan.”_

_Ja’far turned to look at this Sharrkan, just in time for the other’s eyes to swivel to him as well. He shrunk back slightly._

_“Who-” Sharrkan was cut off, a force ramming into his back, making him stumble forward._

_“Pisti”, Sinbad greeted calmly. Right after his words, Ja’far witnessed a young girl’s head pop out from behind Sharrkan, winking._

_“Hi there! Woah, Yam, you don’t look so good.”_

_“You can all go die in a hole”, Yam muttered, turning her head so that she faced the tabletop once again._

_“Try your best to not run into me, okay?” Sharrkan moved out of Pisti’s way, and wow was she short._

_“Yeah, sorry about that. I got excited and-Oh! Who’s that?”_

_“It’s rude to point”, Drakon nagged her. Pisti dropped her hand, eyes still on Ja’far._

_Sinbad stood up and pulled Ja’far’s chair out from the table a couple inches, jolting him in his seat. “This is Ja’far! He’s joining us tonight.”_

_Sharrkan shrugged. “Eh. Okay. Nice to meet you.” He slid into a seat. Pisti followed._

_“You seem quiet”, she said to him, taking her seat. “I think we’ll change that by tonight.” She sat on the other side of Sinbad, Ja’far’s guess so that she wouldn’t sink into the plush booth. She seemed to catch onto that, because she added onto her words soon after. “And calm your tits. I’m eighteen.”_

_“You’re actually sixt-”_

_“Shhh! He doesn’t have to know that.”_

_Sharrkan shrugged. “Okay okay. Whatever.”_

_“Hey everyone.”_

_Ja’far sighed mentally as he turned his head for what felt like the millionth time to look at the newest person. Messy, red hair covered a thin face. Pale eyes glanced over to him as he moved, and sluggishly moved away immediately. “Ah, you’re the famous Ja’far I’ve been hearing about.” The hand he had raised in a motionless wave dropped and he came over to sit beside Drakon, leaning his chin on an open palm, looking from him to Sinbad a few times. “So. How many times have you fucked?”_

_“What”, Pisti screeched. At the same instant, Yam and Sharrkan both perked up, glancing at the pair in question repeatedly._

_Sinbad jumped to his feet, hands on the table. Ja’far had already turned towards him, eyes narrowed and venomous._

_“What, exactly, did you tell them”, he spat._

_“Mmm?” Mystras rolled his head to rest against his other palm. “No one knew?”_

_“There’s nothing to know”, Sinbad blurted out. “We are_ not _, Mystras where did you even_ hear _that?”_

_“I-” A coughing bit broke through his words. Once he recovered, Mystras dropped both hands, relying on pure effort to keep his head up. “I thought you told me. Did I hear wrong? He has the white hair, the silver eyes. For God’s sake he’s even wearing a long-sleeved shirt, Sinbad!” Another couple coughs and Mystras shook his head._

_Pisti sat back down, a disappointed frown on her face. “Aww. If only it weren’t delirium.”_

_“He tends to mix stuff into his words when he has a fever”, Drakon explained to Ja’far, cupping a hand to Mystras’ forehead at the same time._

_Sinbad sat back down, but just barely. He was on the edge of his seat. “Just friends”, he muttered._

_Ah. Well he still wasn’t pleased, but Ja’far decided to let it go. This was turning into an interesting group._

_Perhaps it had been a good idea to come.  
_

-

_He showed up with a hood over his face, because someone decided it was a brilliant idea to allow hoods in the school. But she still recognized him, still pointed him out._

_He slumped over a table at the edge of the large room, pressing the hooded head into curled arms. She stopped in her approach, suddenly looking down at her own jacket she wore. In an instant, it was over her head, held out with one hand._

_She got to the side of the table and dropped it onto his head, burying him in it. Then she slid into a seat opposite of him._

_He hadn’t reacted, probably didn’t know what to think, but right when she decided to reach up, the pile of clothes twitched, a hand sliding out to nearly grasp one of her own. That perked her up, and she let an easy smile come across her features._

_“Hey”, she told him, voice the same as always, quiet and slow and easy._

_His head slowly rose, just a couple inches, enough to where he was resting on his chin. He didn’t speak, though. So she tried again, lacing her fingers with his own._

_“I’m here, okay? You can come out now.” A pause, and then, “Or, you could not. Whatever you want to do. Just, I’m here.”_

_“Mor?”_

_The voice sounded parched. It made her want to heave, want her eyes to water just the tiniest bit. He had probably been through so much. She couldn’t even begin to imagine what it was like. “Yeah?”_

_“Please don’t . . think-”_

_She squeezed his hand as she spoke. “You’re still Hakuryuu”, she insisted. “Nothing will change that. You’re still Hakuryuu, and you survived. And I don’t mean that in any other way but good. You are a survivor. Don’t be afraid to show your face.”_

_He went a little limp, only a small nod of his head showing Morgiana he had understood her. Within a few moments, he reached out and pulled her jacket off of him, slowly dragging his own down from his face soon after. He wouldn’t look at her._

_She felt a small lump form in her throat. His face was scarred. Badly. But, well, she had to be strong. For the both of them._

_“That’s the face of a survivor”, she whispered to him._

_He perked up at this, eyes widening slightly in surprise. He twisted them just a bit to look at her._

_The milky eye concerned her, but she decided not to broach the topic. “We’re both in this together, from now on. I don’t care what you think, I’m dragging myself into your problems.” She picked both of her hands up, clashing a fist into an open palm. “We’re a team now, okay?”_

_“Okay”, he told her. He meant it, too. At that point in time, all he really needed was an ally._

_They were in the seventh grade.  
_

-

_He left with four new numbers that night._

_At Sinbad’s insistence he admitted that, yes, he had had fun._

_It was a good night. He had even let down his guard his couple times. Which, really, he wasn’t sure whether to consider a good or bad thing._

_He was at his door when Sinbad started insisting he take a scrap of paper with his number on it. Ja’far had finally gotten the door open -the incident earlier had jammed the lock a little- when he blatantly just told him there was no point, because he didn’t have a phone._

_He had turned his head back, which was a bad idea. Sinbad was staring at him all bug-eyed and slack-jawed. To be fair, though, he did stop all of it within a moment._

_“Oh. In that case, I’m coming in.”_

_Ja’far shrugged, walking through the threshold and leaving the door open for Sinbad to follow, which he did._

_He went over and sat on the table and pulled up his sleeves, already beginning to unravel the wires in the process of it all. Sinbad sat on the ground by the table, not really watching him, but his eyes trained on him. A little unnerving._

_“Your friends are all . . something.”_

_“Aw, they aren’t yours now too?”_

_“I guess . .”_

_Sinbad leaned his head back against the table, stretching with his arms in the air. “Can I just stay here tonight?”_

_He paused, a brief couple seconds ticking by before he began working again, this time on the other arm. “Whatever.”_

_“Cool. That’s cool. Uh, I’ll be quiet and-”_

_“It’s fine”, Ja’far said, standing up now. He glanced around the room. “Lock the door for me.”_

_“Already did.”_

Really? _He flicked his gaze towards the door, then turned away. “Check again, just to be sure.”_

_Sinbad grumbled as he stood up. Didn’t trust his word, huh? But he was right. He knew he was; upon reaching the door, he proved himself right. It was locked._

_Sinbad turned to tell Ja’far this, but he had already dipped out of the room, leaving him alone.  
_

-

_That night he couldn’t sleep._

_The walls were thin. Even with his door closed, he could hear Sinbad’s breathing._

_He couldn’t stop thinking about that night. Waking up, feeling so comforted. That had never happened before in his life. At least, as far as he could remember. He didn’t think so._

_It got cold in his bedroom, even with a few blankets. That memory was like a drug; it was something his body thought he needed, no matter how much his mind screamed not so._

_Eventually, the former won out, and he found himself climbing out of the bed, stepping out of the room slowly, eyes scanning over to the couch. He was still there. Just like he had suspected._

_Ja’far wasn’t sure what to do next, so he just kind of sat on the edge of the couch. It was apparently enough to wake Sinbad up, because soon he was sitting with him. He scooted further back, bumping against a shoulder._

_They sat for a few minutes, staring at the darkness in front of them, not speaking a word, not wanting to break the silence, afraid something would slip, cause everything to crash and burn. The moment felt fragile._

_Ja’far felt himself cracking just a little when Sinbad pulled his head to lean on his shoulder, close to his neck. But he calmed himself, realizing how much warmer it was like this. This was what he had wanted._

_Sinbad rolled his head to rest atop Ja’far’s, liking this new position. He didn’t know the other’s reasoning, but he felt a bit better, like this._

_The presence was enough to nearly make him lose consciousness. Ja’far stopped himself, just barely, not ready to let go. Because he knew that as soon as he fell asleep, he would wake up to morning, and he would have to leave, and right now he didn’t want to think about that._

_They sat, a little closer, a little easier, a little more relaxed. Ja’far was a bit more satisfied when he felt himself slipping, felt his eyes shut, felt his breath get a little thicker. He couldn’t avoid it now. But that was okay. He had enough to last.  
_

-

There wasn’t time to be nervous.

He calmed himself by clearing all thoughts from his mind.

A woman, Myron, had introduced herself earlier. Said they were heading out in twenty. A highway crash.

It wasn’t hard to imagine in the huge city they were in. And Ja’far had been through too much to let this bother him. A car crash was nothing but a pinch to his skin compared to the entirety of his life.

But it wasn’t his life anymore. He was responsible for others’ now.

Myron’s footsteps sounded in his ears, and he looked up to see her staring down at him, one hand on her hip, a tight frown on her face. She sighed and shook her head. “Come on, kid. We’re loading up.”

She headed out and he stood, swallowing thickly, dismissing all of his worries. It was going to be fine, he was going to be _fine_. This is what he had been preparing for for so long.

Still, when climbed into the ambulance, a small dot of doubt shoved its way into him, staying stuck there while the doors closed, trapping them both in.

 


	6. Chapter 6

He sat on a bench in a locker room.

Basement. Quiet. One floor above, and the people he had brought in were undergoing treatment. It was past his skills. He was transport. That level of chaos was unknown, instead the dwelling of only a few people, hushed voices, what seemed like miles of space all to himself - that was what he resided in.

An old man. A young girl in the backseat, scarf in tatters.

On the other side, a mom of three. He hadn’t been told if any of her kids had survived.

His team was responsible for the man, the grandfather. Possibly because he was new. Probably because his eyes had widened in terror upon seeing the girl, fingers shaking so much the words on the report he had been assigned to manage were barely legible.

There was no blood on the ground. There was in the car, but not on the ground. A relief, or it might have been, if it hadn’t been found out there was nearly no blood in the victim’s body as well.

He sat on the bench, thinking, remembering, stuck in those moments, in those few minutes of his life, all on a time lapse. Ja’far had been prepared for this, had been walked through the situations, had been shown the gruesome videos and pictures and models, but it all seemed for naught when he was actually there, when it was real.

His hands cupped his face, head bending down to rest on them, elbows on his parted knees. Breaths came in through his nose, out through his mouth, trying to regain some order, trying to feel calm in the calm area he was in.

It wasn’t really working.

He never heard the footsteps, never acknowledged the weight on the other side of the bench, until a hand landed on his shoulder.

Ja’far looked up quickly, slightly stunned, still a bit dazed, lost in thought, trapped in what was now a mess of memories, scrambled in his mind.

Another EMT sat by him, a carefully gentle smile on his face. His name escaped Ja’far, but he knew he had been on one of the other ambulances that night. Already, he was dressed in casual clothes. _Shift change, probably_ , he thought.

“This your first case?”

He could only nod. The smile seemed to fluctuate, his eyes not catching if it grew smaller or larger. A hand reached towards his own, dropping something into the palm. When the man moved away, Ja’far saw it was a small blue pill. He stared at it.

“Empesphetta. Quite a few of us use it. It . . takes the edge off. Makes the job easier.” He stood. “You should try it. Might help.”

He walked away and in a few steps Ja’far had blocked out the sound, eyes zoning in on the treasure in his hand.

In a few moments it was down his throat.

  
-

_There had been a point in their lives where one of them was gone._

_A few points, but this was just one. One where the elder of the two was out on a trip, wouldn’t be back for a few weeks._

_This left Aladdin curled up against Ja’far’s side as they watched a movie, only the former breathing the deep breaths of sleep. The latter was a bit bleary-eyed, but managed to stay awake to set an alarm on his phone, shut the tv off. Lie down on the couch and curl Aladdin against him, a mush pile of blankets forming._

_He had to be the more responsible one now. Well, he already was, but now he had to be responsible in the mornings, which was a pain most days. How Sin ever stood waking up at six every day he would never know._

_It also meant he had to go to sleep earlier so that he could get up. More than once on their two-man adventure, Aladdin had had to shut his textbooks while he was mid-whatever to get his attention and tell him enough was enough._

_He was still very much a light sleeper, though. So when a few knocks sounded from the door, it was his eyes and his alone that cracked open, slight irritation shooting through his nerves. It was probably one of the neighbors. No matter how much he bit back on the idea, Sin had insisted accepting a few extra keys from people on the same floor, just in case._

_Of course, he didn’t even bring up the idea of letting someone have a key of theirs. No matter how time had passed, Ja’far still had that slight fear of a break-in, and Sinbad didn’t dare push it. The only people who had keys to their place were the ones living in it._

_It was with teeth sagging into his lower lip that Ja’far rose, carefully as to not disturb Aladdin, and came over to open the door a crack upon another few persistent bangs as he reached it. He hoped the irritation shone clearly on his face._

_Alibaba jumped slightly as his hand connected with air, the door opening slightly. His breathing stopped, but upon seeing Ja’far, it started back up again, rushed and panicked. His head moved to check on both sides of him more than once, and only when he was sure no one else was there did he turn back to Ja’far, all doe-eyed and chalk-faced. “You have to let me in”, he wheezed._

_Ja’far’s head reared back the slightest bit, the irritation erasing, replaced by a bit of annoyance. When he didn’t quite get to his response, the blonde in front of him continued on._

_“Please. Please Ja’far you have to. They’re after me they’ve found me I don’t know what to do this is the only place I could go please.” He was on the verge of tears, the wet spots pricking the edges of his orbs, barely contained somehow._

_He pursed his lips together. “Alibaba”, he began, voice slow. “You’re drunk. You need to go home-”_

_“What? No, no I can’t go home. They’re watching! They’re at my house oh God Ja’far they’re there doing who knows. They’re looking for me and I have nowhere else oh God . .”_

_“Who’s there?”_

_Gray orbs flicked back behind him, just managing to catch sight of Aladdin sitting up, rubbing his eyes with a single fist, face somewhat pointing in his direction. Shit._

_“Be back”, he said quickly, slipping out and shutting the door right behind him. Aladdin’s voice had been slurred with drowsiness. Hopefully he would just go right back to sleep. With a sigh he looked back up to Alibaba, who at this point was indeed crying._

_“Keep your voice down a bit”, he told the boy. “And start from the beginning. What have you gotten yourself into this time?”_

_It took a few deep breaths to calm himself down. Now he couldn’t stop shaking. It was always something, when he was terrified out of his wits. “The . . The people I used to work for, when I met Sinbad. He’s told you, right? I found them at my h-house. All the windows were smashed in, I-I didn’t go inside, but I could see them on the lawn, through the windows. They were looking for me, Ja’far. Where is Sinbad, he’ll understand. You have to let me in. If I go back out there they’ll find me. P-Please.”_

_Oh. Oh, so that’s what it was. The recollections were faint, but he did remember something Sin had told him about the blonde’s past. His little story somewhat aligned with that. “Sin’s out of state on a trip”, he said first. Alibaba’s expression dimmed before his eyes, then grew electric, terror sparking in his eyes. Ja’far spoke again before the boy could say whatever sudden thought had come to mind. “I’ll let you in, so shut up already. You’re still at Brad, right?” At his nod, Ja’far rested his hand on the door’s handle. “Good. I’ll drive you there after I take Aladdin. I let you in and you sleep, got it?” He waited for another nod before continuing. “Okay. Okay Aladdin is asleep, so be quiet. I’ll get you some water -you look like you need it. You can sleep in my bed-no-yes. Yes. I’ll show you.” His fingers pressed down, turned on the handle. “Just follow me, got it?”_

_He didn’t even check for an answer that time, swinging the door open and pattering back inside, heading for the kitchen. It was only a few steps in that direction before a voice made him pause._

_“Can I please know who that was? I’m not a kid.”_

You’re fucking twelve, but hey. _He mentally beat Alibaba’s head into a concrete wall. Ja’far sighed, figuring he had no choice. “It’s-”_

_“Aladdin?”_

_Too late, Alibaba slapped his hands over his mouth, glancing over at Ja’far. Even in the darkness, he could tell the man was ready to murder._

_A shifting stole his attention, Aladdin sitting up correctly on the couch. “Alibaba? Is that you?”_

_He could feel Ja’far’s glare now. “Y-Yes . .”_

_“What are you doing here?”_

_“Aladdin, go back to bed.”_

_“Aww, but da-”_

_“Alibaba will still be here tomorrow”, he said thinly, outwardly seething, not that his kid could see. “You can ask then.”_

_“Goodnight, Aladdin”, Alibaba whispered._

_“Bu-Oh, goodnight, Alibaba!”_

_They were both met with silence. Either Aladdin had settled back down or was being unusually quiet. Ja’far didn’t have the patience to care anymore. If he was tired in the morning, it would be his own damn fault._

_God. Who knew being woken up from a four minute sleep could put him into such a bad mood._

_He practically shoved the glass of water into Alibaba, hurrying away soon after. The bedroom door was pushed open, footsteps fading away as Alibaba stood before it._

_After a few moments of no movement Ja’far shrugged, stepping away. “Goodnight.” At least, he hoped it was for them. As he moved back onto the couch, Ja’far already knew he wouldn’t be able to fall asleep again that night._

_Hopefully that wasn’t a huge mistake._

**-**

“How did work go?”

He turned slowly from his position, facing his beloved with a blank look, slightly-hollow eyes. “Let’s not talk about it”, he murmured, flicking his gaze away.

Sinbad mentally cursed himself. Of course he would be the one to screw it up. Why would anyone want to talk about injured and dying people? Stupid stupid stupid.

Ja’far pursed his lips, shook his head to clear it a bit. In a few moments, some light returned to his face. “I’m surprised you’re up. It’s early.”

Sinbad shrugged. “It’s only six. Besides, I didn’t know when you’d be back.”

“Please don’t tell me you stayed up all night.”

“N- . . . No . .”

“Sin!”

“I-It wasn’t me! But, uh . .” He turned his head, gestured toward the couch in the middle of the room. On it, Aladdin was fast asleep, looking like he just fell over onto the furniture. And Ja’far understood before his final words came. “This one was up until two.”

Ja’far let out a groan, slapping a hand to his face. The noise caused Aladdin to shift in his sleep. With a glare grooved into his expression, Ja’far gestured with his head for Sinbad to follow him as he padded over to their shared room. As soon as the door shut behind the both of them, Ja’far turned and jammed a finger against Sinbad’s chest, causing him to wince. “He is _twelve_! What were you thinking?”

“I wasn’t, really . .” Sinbad sighed. “I’m sorry. That shouldn’t have happened.” He stepped back, out of the other’s reach. “Why don’t you go to sleep? I’ll take care of waking him up.”

“And how early were you up?”

“Five.”

A twang of pain pierced his heart. He really was waiting up for him. And he did look a bit worried . . Ja’far mentally sighed, deciding his next words were better said for the current situation, despite them not being completely true.

“For future notice, my shift ends at five-thirty.”

Sinbad nodded, grinned. “Okay. Got it.” He rounded the room, coming up behind Ja’far and giving him a slight push further into it. “Now go to sleep. You need it. I can tell.”

He screwed up his face, but ultimately nodded. Having a few hours with those things not on his mind might help.

****  
-** **

_“So, you have anything to your name?”_

_Alibaba looked up, snapped out of his thoughts by the question. After a few moments, he shook his head. Then he stopped, and pursed his lips, and within a few more moments, he was speaking. “Well, I guess the clothes I have on. And my phone and wallet. That’s at least something, right?” He ducked his head. “I, uh, don’t have any money, though.”_

_Ja’far tapped his fingers on the wheel. At least he had an ID. “House keys?”_

_His expression turned frantic, and his hands immediately dove for his pockets, patting them down until he got a jangle sound in return. He leaned back, relaxed slightly. “Yes.”_

_He took a hand off the wheel, reached across the car, palm face up. “Here. I’ll go get your stuff.”_

_Alibaba froze, body tensing immediately. They were at a light. Ja’far glanced over at him just as it turned green, just getting a peek before returning his attention to the road once more. “What-”_

_“Y-You can’t”, he blurted out. “It’s too dangerous! Besides, I don’t want you involved more than you already are. This isn’t your problem. I don’t want you or Aladdin or anyone to get hurt-”_

_“Alibaba.” His voice was stern, left no room for talk. It also shut the kid up. He softened up. “They will be safer with me than they will be with you. I won’t go, but give them to me. Please.”_

_He hesitated just a bit more before reaching into a pocket and pulling them out, setting them down in Ja’far’s hand. They pulled up at the main building soon after._

_“What time is your last class?”_

_“Two.”_

_“Do you need money for lunch?”_

_He shook his head. “Nah, I’ll be fine.” A hand landed on the door’s handle, turning it slightly. Before he could push the door open, Ja’far nudged his shoulder. Alibaba looked back to see him holding out a five. With gratitude shining on his face, Alibaba took it, nodding in thanks and getting out of the car._

_Ja’far drove off toward another building across campus, contemplating, thinking up a plan. He had until two. His class ended at eleven, which gave him a few hours to locate Alibaba’s house and dig around, get necessities out. Knowing him, it was probably just a simple break-in by a few stupid, drunk college freshman. The place would be cleared out. There wasn’t a need to worry so much._

_He hoped._

******  
-** ** **

“Hello?”

_“Hey, Morgiana, it’s me, Sinbad.”_

“Oh, let me go get Masrur-”

_“No no, wait! It’s actually you I wanted to talk to. What a coincidence that you picked up, eh?”_

She held the phone away from her face, staring at it for a moment. He was being serious. He was being serious? He was. She held her thumb over the ‘end call’ button. No, he was. She slid the phone back to her face. “What do you need.”

_“So, uh, you’re still friends with the guy who wants to be a med student, right? The one that knows the EMTs?”_

Oh. She thought she knew where this was going, but the question threw her logic off. “Um, those are two different people.” She swiveled in her chair. “Titus and Sphintus. Titus is the one who knows the EMTs. Well, his sister really did, but he knows them better now.” _Now, what will you do with this information?_

“Titus?”

“Titus Alexius. He’s a sophomore. Was a sophomore.” School had only let out a few days ago. Morgiana was still getting used to the fact.

_“Now comes the part where I ask you for a favor . .”_

She squinted, pursing her lips at the blank wall across the room. “ . . Go on.”

_“Would you introduce me to him? I have some questions, ones he may be able to answer, and if not, he’ll have resources that can.”_

“Um . .”

_“Oh please please Morgiana. Pretty please! I’m on my knees.”_

She raised her eyebrows, but upon hearing the faint “No you’re not” from the other line, pitch the same as Aladdin’s, her expression dissolved into a snicker. “I wouldn’t say no, but I do have a condition.”

A pause, then, _“And that is?”_

“You tell me what this is all about. I’ll be ready in twenty, come get me then.”

“ _I’ll tell you as much as I am able_ ”, came the reply.

This time, her thumb hit the end button. Morgiana stood, taking a moment before putting the phone back on the charger. She pulled her own phone out of her jacket, padding across the room to get dressed as she told Titus to expect them.

****  
  


-

_He sat in the car, phone in hands, pondering the words he had written._

_All he had written was simply this: Can I have Alibaba’s address?_

_One simple sentence, but he wasn’t sure he could press send. It was Morgiana, after all. Although Ja’far knew she would send him the address without any questions, he didn’t want her questioning him to herself either. So his only option was to . ._

_He pursed his lips. It wasn’t right. But, well, did he have any other choice? Not really. Sin wasn’t here, and even if he was ninety-nine percent sure Alibaba was just freaking for no reason, he wasn’t going to take any chances in involving anyone else. That one percent was still there, taunting him._

_With a sigh, and a deep feeling of guilt, he finished the message._

 

Can I have Alibaba’s address?

-Aladdin

 

_Send and done. No going back now. Ja’far started the ignition and backed out, dropping his phone to his lap. Although he knew she was in school now, her response came rather quickly. Oh. Oh shit._

School.

_Aladdin was in school right now. Shit shit shit._

_He slammed his hands on the top of the steering wheel, teeth sinking into his bottom lip. A honk made him lift his head. He was at a stop sign. There was a car behind him._

_His eyes looked down to his phone and the address in the screen. Right. He just had to live on that part of town. Ja’far sighed and pulled out onto the street, setting a course towards that side of the city._

_He just hoped Morgiana was too busy to notice his mistake._

**  
-**

She was in a skirt that fell just above her knees, a small shirt and a small jacket going with it. The jacket was nice-looking. It was a bit cloudy out today, so her outfit was appropriate for the weather. And for the residence they were visiting.

Sinbad’s was not.

He wore old jeans and sandals, a frayed long-sleeve with small holes here and there. He had been fine until they pulled up to the house.

Then he started to feel underdressed.

Morgiana glared at him until he got out of the car, then until he started walking, not with her, but not away from the house, either.

“What’s your problem”, she grumbled.

“You didn’t tell me your friend lived in a three-story _mansion_ ”, he huffed back.

“It’s not a mansion”, she argued, albeit not very enthusiastically. “If you’re worried about your clothes, you’re fine. You’ll feel better once you see Titus.”

And he did feel better. Just a bit, but better.

The boy who answered the door opened it just enough to unconceal his dull eyes. When he saw the people on the other side, he opened it a little more, revealing himself. Despite the gorgeous appearance of the house and scenery around him, the boy was dressed in sweats, his blonde hair not as shiny as Sinbad would have expected, and the small pieces on the side looped into messy braids. He smacked his lips and brightened just a bit, setting his gaze on the red-head.

“Hey Morgiana.” Then the boy’s eyes turned to him. “Hi Sinbad.”

Ah . . huh? Sinbad’s face screwed up just a little. He was sure he had never met this boy before.

“Well, come on in, I guess.” He opened the door more with one arm, stepping further inside after.

Morgiana threw her head over her shoulder. “I mentioned your name”, she told her companion before stepping into the house.

“I can’t believe you made me put on a shirt today”, Titus called back to her, hanging his head as he walked through another frame into a more formal sitting room.

“Don’t worry, he’s useful”, she called back to Sinbad.

“Hey!”

“Well anyone would be having doubts after that.”

Titus plopped down into a seat, throwing a cheek against a single fist. Across from him, Morgiana and Sinbad sat as well.

“Uh . . Nice place you have here . .” Sinbad’s eyes glanced around the room, only landing on his scowling host once during his words.

“Yeah, it’s nice. What do you want?”

 _Well_. “Morgiana here said you knew some EMTs. If you don’t mind, I have a few questions.”

Titus shrugged, but his interest was piqued. He dropped his arm, leaning back onto his seat and looking Sinbad in the eye. “Go on.”

Morgiana huffed as Sinbad side-eyed her. She stood quickly, her signature side ponytail flaring out aside her long hair. “I’ll be in the car”, she grumbled. To Titus, “Come out and see me before you kick him out.”

The blonde snickered, giving her a little wave as she exited the room. Then he turned his attention back to Sinbad, gesturing for him to go ahead.

“How long have they had their jobs?”

He turned his gaze skyward. “Ahh, let’s see . .” Already, his voice was more animated. “Lo’Lo’ for about four years, and Myron for . . two.”

“Were there any . . issues . . in the beginning?”

Titus’s eyes narrowed. “Why would you want to know?”

Sinbad smiled, a sad look in his eyes. “My . . partner just started as one.”

The boy across from him blinked, clearing his face. “Oh. Uh, yeah I’ll . . I mean- . . . Myron had a problem, in the beginning”, he began. “Uh, she’s very . . enthusiastic. And she loved her job, still does, but on her day seven, a patient in her ambulance died on the way to the hospital.” He looked away. “She blamed herself. She was the one driving. You’d think, in that situation, everyone involved would blame themselves. At the time, she was working with a group that had experience, that had gone through this multiple times. So they didn’t blame themselves, they didn’t blame anyone. They told her not to dwell too much on it, but with her personality, well . . “ He hesitated. “She went into a rage. She broke down so much, mentally, that she couldn’t function for a bit. She had to take a couple week off, cool down. Nothing anyone said could help her. Finally, she dug herself out of the hole she had been stuck in and surprised us all. She said ‘That will be the one mistake I ever make on the job’. The next day, she went back to work. There’s never been a problem with her since.”

Sinbad took a few moments to let it all sink in. Blaming yourself . . Had that been what Ja’far was doing, that night? It had been a few days since, but it bothered him so much. “And the other”, he asked.

“Lo’Lo’ has always had a smile on his face, for as long as I can remember”, Titus told him. “Sometimes it’s genuine, sometimes it’s playfully cruel.” His neutral-curved lips dipped into a frown. “He takes drugs”, he blatantly said. “Somewhere along the four years, he’d started. Sometimes there are random moments when tears will run down his face, but he seems surprised every time it happens.” His legs, which had been crossed, were now not, and he set his elbows onto them, leaning forward. “Don’t let yours take drugs, Sinbad. It’s a hard job, what they do, but they’re not for everyone. The drugs.”

“Right . .”

“So what’s her name, anyway?” Titus sat up, casting earnest eyes over at Sinbad.

He bit his lip. “Mmmm, well, it’s actually a ‘he’ . .”

Across from him, crystal eyes widened as Titus jumped to his feet. “So you’re the gay one”, he exclaimed, finger pointed at Sinbad’s face.

Aha. Sinbad’s lips pressed into a hard smile. “Well, that’s one way to put it.”

“Oh-” He dropped his hands. “Oh no. Oh no no no. I didn’t mean it like that! I meant-I mean-” He took a deep breath, then, “I have a boyfriend!”

Sinbad was a little taken aback. He hadn’t been expecting . . that. But, here it had come.

Titus let his head fall into his hands. “Oh my god”, he moaned, turning to face away from Sinbad. “Sorry, I’m sorry.”

Sinbad stood, raising up his hands. “I-It’s okay”, he told him. “Ah, no harm done.”

Titus turned his head a little, fingers parting to reveal one eye. “It’s nice to meet you”, he mumbled.

“Likewise.” Sinbad hesitated, but eventually asked his final question. “Titus, would you mind connecting me and Myron? Just in case I have any more questions?”

He let his hands drop. “Yeah, I can do that. Give me a few days and I’ll send the number to Mor.”

Good. At least he had something.

**  
-**

“ _Now_ will you tell me what this was about?”

Sinbad sighed. This whole day he had been contemplating how much to tell. “Ja’far.”

“Is something wrong?”

They pulled up at her house.

Morgiana crossed her arms. “I’m not getting out until you answer.”

“Something . . _might_ be wrong. I don’t know yet. Even then, it’s probably just the stress of starting out.” He smiled over at her. “I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about.” _Now get out of my car._

“ . . . Right. Well, glad I could help.”

And she meant it. Climbing out, watching the car dip out of view, she really did mean it. If she could help, she would.

Because then, maybe she could make up for the part she had played in all the harm those months ago.

****  
-** **

_It wasn’t a bad part of town. It was just a little . . run-down._

_The one percent made him cautious. He parked a few blocks away, glad for the tinted windows. Although the sun was out, he took the time to dig a bigger jacket from the backseat, tugging it on and throwing up the hood. He sat there for a few moments, chewing on his lower lip, thinking. Finally, he decided to open the glove box from across the aisle, snatching up a smaller box from inside and ripping it open, taking the contents in one hand and tossing the box away with another._

_In his hands he held the twin blades and wires he’d had for so many years._

_He let his grey eyes glance up at the view of the world outside of his car, taking it in slowly before looking back down at his prized weapons. It didn’t . . look that bad._

_So instead of marking up his arms, he put the blades into the deep single pocket of the jacket he wore. At least, if he needed them, they would be on him. And besides, if he couldn’t wield the blades without them wrapped around his arms, if he couldn’t wield them outside of the conventional methods he had been taught, then he didn’t deserve to have them at all. They were too valuable for that._

_Ja’far climbed out, pulling the hood down lower, glad for the length of the jacket, seeing as it covered his hands without him having to conceal them elsewhere. The sleeves swallowed them up completely. It must have been Sin’s, he realized. Some days, he couldn’t tell the difference between pieces of their clothing._

_The door wasn’t locked, of course. But it wasn’t ajar, either. The lock wasn’t smashed in. He couldn’t find any signs of forced entry. Still, he glanced left and right, checking to make sure no one was watching, before going inside, shutting and locking the door immediately after._

_Once behind solid walls, he relaxed just a bit. There. In without a problem. Locating the necessary books wasn’t a hard task, it was just a bit time-consuming. You could tell Alibaba lived here by himself. Things were scattered everywhere. The first book he found was immediately to his right, sitting on a small table in what appeared to be a kitchen. It was there that he spotted the remains of broken glass from the broken windows he had been told about. That was right. No use for a door._

_There were a couple scattered on the living room floor, another bookmarked by its position of opened and facedown on the couch, something he knew -that also caused him to let out a sigh while picking it up- wore out the spine. He closed the book carefully and examined it before stacking it with the others. That made four. One more to go._

_The house was relatively small, the only other room being a conjoined bath and bedroom. The final book sat dutifully atop a disorganized desk, easy pickings for the white-haired collector to come by and snatch it up._

_With his load in hands, he thought for a moment to anything else he might grab. Clothes weren’t an issue -they were the same height, after all; and he could even wear Sin’s if need be. He set the books down and went back into the bedroom, searching around for some kind of laptop. Nothing. Was there anything else . . ?_

_A noise caught his attention. He returned to the main room, then retreated to a small hallway in the back, finding the noise coming from the door leading to the back of the house. He waited a few moments, one hand curling around the edge of a blade. But the noise stopped._

No. _He huffed, relaxing slightly and standing up more. It was an overreaction. Probably just neighbors. His hands twisted the door’s handle and he stepped through, position still a bit more tense than he would like. Immediately, he stepped in something wet. He looked down at it, the heavily damp ground surrounding his shoes. A smile filled his face. No. No, nothing was wrong. Crazy neighbors, probably. They probably did this often around here._

_Still, he bent down and swiped a finger through the liquid. Filmy. His eyes narrowed. He brought the finger to his chin and sniffed. Smelled like . . methanol!_

_Quickly, he jumped up, pushing the hand away from his face and using the other to hike up the collar of the jacket to cover his mouth, causing the hood to fall. He fled back into the house, quickly picked up the books, and shot out of the front door, not even bothering to be cautious. That had been what he had heard. Whoever it was, they had been pouring methanol all over the ground. Someone must have spotted him going in._

_He threw the car’s driver door open, tossing the books onto the passenger side and quickly starting the car. While doing this, he also took off the jacket and wiped his hands with it, putting it in the back once he was done. The ignition running, he pulled out and stepped on the gas, speeding out, his heart still pounding._

_Someone had wanted to set him on fire._

_Someone had wanted to kill him._

_Suddenly, it didn’t seem like drunk freshman anymore._

******  
-** ** **

_“We have some things to talk about.”_

_Alibaba closed the door, turned properly in his seat, and secured himself before looking over at the driver. “Oh, I spent all the money, if that’s what it’s about. I can pay you back, tho-”_

_“No.” Ja’far shook his head, turning onto a side road at the same time. “That’s not it.” He meant to speak more, but it seemed as if he had lost the blonde’s attention. The freshman was more concerned with something behind them. Grimacing, Ja’far turned his head to look out the rear window, hoping there was no one there. What he would instead was that the jacket had slipped off the books, unconcealing them._

_“No . .”_

_He whipped his head towards Alibaba, who was looking down with a defeated expression, his eyes bleak._

_“Oh God, no . . I’m sorry.” Golden eyes gleamed as they turned, big and bright, to Ja’far. “I’m sorry”, he choked out. “It’s my fault. I shouldn’t have gotten you involved. I’m sorry.”  He held a hand up to cup the single eye that was leaking tears, shaking his head and turning towards the window. “You should probably just abandon the car. They’ve probably already found out everything about it. I’m sor-”_

_Ja’far stopped the car in a rush, therefore cutting off Alibaba’s words. They were in the middle of a neighborhood road -no one was coming. He turned away from the boy and pulled on the handle, throwing his door open with a kick. Alibaba flinched and barely cracked his head over to look at him as Ja’far climbed out of the car._

_He had found some time to regain composure and organize things a bit more along the way back to Brad. One of the things he did was place his blades on his person. Once he was out of the car, Ja’far whipped around, door still open and single passenger still watching in stun, to face the direction they had just come. He dug his weapons out of his pants, swinging one to the other hand, and quickly began wrapping the wires around his arms with a skilled measure that could only be done with much practice and even greater patience. In mere moments his sleeves were pulled up and his arms decorated with red, slender hands sporting two triangle-shapes knives that gleamed in the light. He was still not facing Alibaba when he spoke. “Let them come”, he declared boldly. “I’m not so selfish that I would simply run away, leaving this problem for others involved to handle.”_ Anymore _. He flipped one of the blades, making it now be flat in his grasp, parallel to the ground. “I have people dependant on me now.” At these words, he tipped his head to look back in the car, back at the awestruck college freshman, mouth wide open in shock. “And that includes you.”_

******  
- ** ** **

_Ja’far stood pacing in the main room, Alibaba on the couch, hands curled into fists, eyes trained on the ground._

_“The house itself seemed fine. However, I’m not sure about it’s condition as of current”, he admitted. This made Alibaba look up._

_“What do you mean?”_

_“Ah . .” Maybe that hadn’t been the best thing to say. “Actually, did you have a computer there?”_

_“Yes.”_

_“That was . . gone, then.”_

_He shrugged. “Expected. What of the house itself?”_

_Ja’far sighed and came to a stop. “There was . . . . methanol, spread out all over the back. Outside, but still.”_

_The blonde’s reaction was immediate. He threw himself up, leaning his weight forward, not even taking a step forward before slamming a fist into the side of Ja’far’s face._

_At this point, Aladdin, whom they had picked up earlier, had chosen this moment to come out of his room, and saw the scene play before his eyes._

_Alibaba stood, one foot stepped out a half-step, teeth clenched, across from Ja’far, who glared back at him, one hand now pressed to his cheek. He just happened to catch sight of Aladdin just before he acted upon the scene he had witnessed._

_“What do you think you’re doing”, Aladdin called, breaking out into a run and getting between the two. “Dad! What-Alibaba, what is this?”_

_During this time, Ja’far had dropped his hands. “No, I’m sorry. It was my fault. I deserved it.” His arms circled around his son. “Aladdin, it’s okay. I deserved it. I deserved it.”_

_“You idiot”, Alibaba spat. “You’re damn lucky you survived. That wasn’t methanol. Chances are it was probably ether.” His hands came up, tore at his hair. “Forget about the house. It’s gone now. God._ God! _Do you even realize what this means?”_

_“W-What’s ether”, Aladdin breathed, turning towards Ja’far for the answer._

_He couldn’t quite respond, suddenly at a loss for words. Ether was a pretty high-up substance. Extremely flammable, extremely explosive. Forget about the house is right. It was gone. Gone. Was it gone because of him? And just who were these people, to have access to such a thing? Who had Alibaba gotten involved in? “What day is tomorrow”, he asked, instead of answering the previously asked question. The words came out slow, precise despite the half-shock he was still in._

_“Thursday.”_

_Damn. Just happened to be the day of busy classes. Oh well._

_“Take a seat”, he told Alibaba sternly. After, he grabbed Aladdin’s arms, which had circled around his waist, and unhooked them, pulling the boy away. He bent down to where he was eye-level with him. “Aladdin, listen. I don’t want you telling anyone about this. I’m okay. Everything is going to be okay. But I need you to -just for tonight- go pack a bag for the night. Can you do that?”_

_By that point, Aladdin’s eyes had grown huge. After the mini-speech, he simply nodded, ramming his head into Ja’far’s shoulder soon after. He was afraid to talk, afraid only the noises of sobs would come out instead. It took a few moments, but he eventually detached himself, heading back towards his room._

_Ja’far dug his phone out of the folds of his clothes, dialing a number as Alibaba finally sat down with a huff._

_“Hakuei? It’s me. Listen, I have a favor to ask . .”_

**********  
** ** **

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so it begins! If you remember back to chapter one, Alibaba had been afraid to talk to SInbad due to something that happened a few months back. The flashbacks in this chapter are it. Or, well, a part of it. You'll get the end result eventually.
> 
> You can probably tell by now, but my humor is stark at best. Still, I hope I got a few giggles out of this chapter.
> 
> As this chapter focused more on Alibaba and Jaf, the next will focus on Hakuei and Jaf/Sinja. But mainly Jaf. You'll see.


End file.
